J'J. 


Uniform  with  this  Volume  : 

LITERARY  SOURCE-BOOK 

OF   THB 

ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE. 

•:• 

Bound  in  cloth,  $1.00. 


A   LITERARY   SOURCE-BOOK 


GERMAN    RENAISSANCE 


MERRICK  WHITCOMB,  PH.  D., 

Instructor  in  Modern  European  History,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  HISTORY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 

1899. 


COPYRIGHT,  1899, 
BY 

MERRICK  WHITCOMB. 


THE   RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY.  I 

THE  RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY.* 

The  humanistic  movement  in  Germany  repeats,  in  many  par- 
ticulars of  its  development,  the  features  of  the  earlier  and  greater 
Renaissance  in  Italy.  It  differs,  however,  from  its  Italian  proto- 
type in  this  important  particular  at  least,  that  the  various  phases 
of  its  progress  are  compressed  into  a  period  of  little  more  than  half 
a  century,  whereas  the  Italian  movement  covers  two  centuries 
from  its  rise  to  its  decline.  Just  before  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century  Aeneas  Sylvius,  himself  an  accomplished  man  of  letters, 
who  had,  moreover,  as  secretary  at  the  imperial  court  of  Frederick 
III.,  abundant  opportunity  of  observing  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment and  tendencies  of  the  Germans,  as  the  result  of  his  experi- 
ence declares  that  the  Germans  were  still  in  their  mediaeval  per- 
iod; that  such  intellectual  activity  as  they  possessed  was  of  a 
character  exclusively  theological;  that  they  still  moved  within  the 
narrow  circle  of  scholasticism.  "They  are  good  people,"  he  said, 
"  but  they  are  not  interested  in  the  things  that  interest  me."  Of 
the  nobles,  the  future  patrons  of  humanism,  he  remarked  further: 
' '  They  prefer  horses  and  dogs  to  poets,  and  like  horses  and  dogs, 
they  shall  go  down  fameless  unto  death."  Yet  such  a  Renais- 
sance as  Germany  possesses  lies  between  these  experiences  of 
Aeneas  Sylvius  and  the  end  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  following 
century,  when  Luther's  bold  and  cumulative  attack  upon  the 
church  of  Rome  turned  the  interests  of  young  Germany  from  the 
sunny  fields  of  humanism  into  a  new  arena  of  theological  struggle. 

Certain  conditions  existed,  however,  favorable  for  a  rapid  de- 
velopment of  humanistic  ideas  in  Germany.  When  that  country 
had  arrived  at  a  point  where  the  more  material  needs  were  satis- 

1  So  far  as  I  am  aware,  there  has  been  no  special  treatment  in  English  of 
the  German  humanistic  movement,  which  for  the  sake  of  brevity  has  been 
termed — I  hope  without  too  much  violence — the  "German  Renaissance." 
It  seemed  not  inappropriate,  therefore,  to  preface  the  selections  offered  here 
with  a  few  remarks  upon  the  significance  and  character  of  that  general  in- 
tellectual quickening  in  German  lands,  whose  genial  activity  was  merged  in 
the  struggles  of  the  Reformation.  The  following  account  will  seem  less 
meagre  if  taken  in  connection  with  the  introductory  notices  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  various  selections.  Upon  this  subject  compare  Van  Dyke:  "The 
Age  of  the  Renaissance,"  Scribners,  1897,  an  excellent  account  in  so  far  as 
the  limits  of  the  work  permit;  also  "The  Renaissance,"  by  Philip  Schaff, 
Putnams,  1891. 


2  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

fied,  and  a  wider  intellectual  field  was  necessary  for  continued 
expansion,  the  materials  for  the  new  learning  were  found,  already 
elaborated,  beyond  the  Alps.  The  early  steps  had  been  taken 
there:  the  slow  and  tedious  preliminary  work  had  been  accom- 
plished, the  enormous  task  of  bringing  to  light  the  remains  of 
classical  culture ;  even  the  preparation  of  elementary  treatises, 
whose  object  it  was  to  prepare  the  mind  for  the  utilization  of  the 
recovered  treasures;  all  this  had  been  done  before  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  and  it  only  remained  for  the  enterprising 
German  pioneer  to  cross  the  Alps,  bring  home  the  results  of  this 
tremendous  labor,  and  give  it  a  form  adapted  for  the  German  mind 
and  inclination.  . 

Moreover,  when  Germany  entered  upon  her  humanistic  career, 
a  potent  instrument  had  been  prepared  for  the  dissemination  of 
the  new  ideas.  In  superseding  the  slow  process  of  manual  repro- 
duction, which  consumed  so  much  of  the  time  and  strength  of  the 
Italian  humanists  from  Petrarch  on,  the  printing-press  gave  a 
mighty  impetus  to  the  diffusion  of  the  new  learning.  It  permitted 
the  more  advanced  ideas,  in  so  far  as  they  were  consonant  with 
the  prevailing  trend  of  thought,  to  gain  a  rapid  victory,  accom- 
plishing thereby  in  a  brief  period  what  in  a  time  of  less  perfect 
communication  had  required  generations.  It  is  on  this  account, 
perhaps,  more  than  on  any  other,  that  we  find  Germany,  within 
the  space  of  half  a  century,  passing  rapidly  through  the  various 
phases  of  humanistic  development,  which  in  Italy  required  two 
centuries. 

These  phases  are  a  series  of  stages  in  the  emancipation  of 
thought,  and  its  subsequent  progress  from  a  condition  of  limited 
theological  interest,  characteristic  of  the  Middle  Ages,  to  that 
condition  which  comprehends  the  wide  range  of  human  interests 
which  we  call  modern.  Along  this  track  of  progress  are  to  be 
found  a  sequence  of  individuals,  whom  for  purposes  of  illustra- 
tion and  study  it  is  convenient  to  arrange  in  groups,  and  to  char- 
acterize according  to  the  degree  of  their  advancement. 

We  have  at  first,  as  in  Italy,  a  group  of  early  humanists,  who 
may  be  called  the  theological  humanists,  by  way  of  indicating  that 
they  are  still  largely  under  the  influence  of  mediaeval  culture. 
Although  working  earnestly  for  the  introduction  of  humanistic 
studies  into  Germany,  these  men  are  not  given  over  unreservedly 
to  classical  ideals;  they  are  disposed  to  eliminate  from  the  list  of 


THE   RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY.  3 

Greek  and  Latin  authors  those  whose  works  are  in  any  respect 
imbued  with  an  anti-Christian  spirit;  their  interest  is  not  primar- 
ily in  the  works  themselves,  but  in  their  adaptation  for  Christian 
purposes.  Humanists  of  this  description  were  conscious  of  a 
divided  allegiance,  and  it  is  impossible  to  resist  the  conviction 
that  their  arguments  in  favor  of  the  new  learning  are  intended  to 
serve  quite  as  much  for  self-justification  as  for  the  persuasion  of 
their  readers.  It  is  quite  in  the  nature  of  things  that  with  these 
men  youth  is  the  period  of  rationalism,  and  that  as  they  advance 
toward  the  inevitable  solution,  in  their  individual  cases,  of  the 
great  problem  of  the  future,  their  conservatism  asserts  itself  and 
they  recoil  from  the  enterprises  of  their  earlier  days.  Many  of 
them,  in  fact,  revert  to  a  condition  of  total  obscurantism,  and  pass 
the  evening  of  life  in  retirement  and  religious  meditation,  doing 
penance  for  the  literary  aberrations  of  their  youth. 

In  Germany  the  theological  group  seems  to  include  a  great  part 
of  the  well-known  men  of  letters.  There  are  several  reasons  for 
this.  It  is  not  strange  that  in  a  country  where  learning  had  been 
almost  exclusively  an  affair  of  the  clergy,  the  first  recruits  for 
humanism  should  be  drawn  from  a  class  whose  earlier  impressions 
rendered  a  separation  from  conventional  theological  ideas  a  mat- 
ter of  great  difficulty.  Then,  too,  the  German  mind,  perhaps 
because  less  composite  in  origin,  and  less  subject  to  extraneous 
influences  in  its  national  development,  seems  to  have  shown  a 
relatively  great  tenacity  in  respect  to  a  small  number  of  ideas,  of 
which  the  religious  idea  had  been  for  generations  one  of  the  most 
prominent.  Such  men  were  not  likely  to  carry  the  new  learning 
beyond  the  pale  of  Christianity,  and  their  predominant  number 
and  influence  gave  to  the  German  Renaissance  a  more  truly  re- 
ligious character  and  a  deeper  sincerity  of  purpose  than  resulted 
from  similar  intellectual  impulses  in  Italy.  It  also  happened  that 
the  leaders  of  this  group,  men  like  Rudolf  Agricola  and  Jakob 
Wimpheling,  turned  their  attention  to  educational  matters  and 
embodied  their  principles  in  the  organization  of  the  German 
school  system.  In  the  same  manner  the  principals  of  the  more 
important  secondary  schools,  as  for  example,  Alexander  Hegius, 
of  Deventer,  were  representatives  of  the  same  deeply  religious 
spirit,  which  was  not  without  determining  influence  in  their  con- 
tact with  the  rising  generation  of  literary  workers. 

Another  and  later  group  of  humanists  may  be  called,  for  want 


4  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE   GERMAN    RENAISSANCE. 

of  a  better  term,  the  scientific  group.  The  chief  characteristic  of 
its  members  is  that  their  interest  in  the  new  learning  is  for  the 
thing  itself,  and  not  for  the  use  to  which  it  may  be  put  in  advanc- 
ing the  interests  of  religion.  They  are  not  necessarily  irreligious; 
in  fact  such  an  element  has  almost  no  representation  in  German 
humanism;  they  have  simply  advanced  to  a  point,  where,  without 
denying  that  religion  is  one  of  the  most  important,  if  not  the  most 
important  department  of  thought,  they  recognize  that  the  circle 
of  human  interests  has  grown  to  embrace  other  considerations 
which,  if  not  antagonistic,  have  yet  no  necessary  connection  with 
religion.  Another  characteristic  of  these  humanists  is  that  they 
are  not  necessarily  clergymen.  The  humanities  have  come  by  this 
time  to  attract  men  from  all  departments  of  life.  At  the  high  tide 
of  the  German  Renaissance,  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
lecturers  upon  theology,  medicine  and  law  were  .speaking  to  empty 
benches;  the  interests  of  the  student  body  had  turned  toward  the 
new  learning.  The  dethronement  of  theology  from  its  supreme 
position  at  the  head  of  the  university  curriculum  made  place  for 
the  introduction  of  other  studies.  Greek  came  more  and  more  to 
be  the  mark  of  a  liberal  education,  and  the  knowledge  of  a  third 
tongue,  Hebrew,  was  an  indication  of  still  greater  attainment. 
The  field  of  speculation,  loosed  from  its  mediaeval  entanglement, 
drifted  away  from  the  sole  contemplation  of  the  spiritual  results 
of  life,  and  came  to  include  the  facts  of  material  existence.  His- 
tory came  to  be  regarded  as  something  other  than  the  melancholy 
confirmation  of  the  results  of  Adam's  fall;  the  world  and  its  con- 
tents came  to  demand  attention,  a  tendency  stimulated  by  the 
recent  extension  of  the  earth's  known  area. 

This  second  group  embraces  a  wide  range  of  intellectual  effort. 
To  it  belongs  Erasmus,  who  although  conventionally  and  prop- 
erly religious  in  his  observances,  nevertheless  affords  at  every 
turn  unquestionable  evidence  that  the  great  interests  of  his  life 
are  literary  and  not  theological.  To  it  belongs  as  well  von  Hut- 
ten,  in  whom  modernism  has  taken  the  form  of  a  patriotic  desire 
to  throw  aside  the  yoke  and  influence  of  Rome,  which  has  pre- 
vented the  formation  in  Germany  of  a  centralized  aud  homogene- 
ous nation,  capable  of  approaching  successfully  the  solution  of 
modern  problems.  This  aspiration  is  in  itself  a  recognition  of  the 
importance  of  human  association  for  material  purposes,  and  a 
denial  of  the  exclusive  importance  of  such  association  for  the  pur- 


THE   RENAISSANCE   IN  GERMANY.  5 

poses  of  spiritual  preparation  and  advancement.  In  this  group 
also  we  find  the  mathematicians,  the  geographers  and  other  men 
of  science,  whose  industry  responds  to  the  expanding  needs  of 
human  effort. 

Moreover,  in  the  same  association  we  find  the  purely  literary 
workers,  the  ' '  poets, ' '  as  all  men  were  called  at  the  time  who  were 
capable  of  original  literary  production.  These  are  the  men  who 
seem  least  German,  and  most  cosmopolitan  ;  they  more  nearly 
reflect  the  contemporaneous  idea  of  humanism  in  Italy,  the  striving 
for  a  pure  and  graceful  Latin  diction.  The  conditions  of  this  form 
of  literary  work  imply  a  contempt  for  the  vernacular  and  an  em- 
phasis upon  the  necessity  for  style,  even  at  the  expense  of  content. 
Such  skill,  although  highly  prized  and  greatly  striven  for  by  men 
everywhere  in  the  Renaissance,  has  but  the  faintest  meaning  for 
posterity,  whose  interest  is  in  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance  rather 
than  in  its  copy-book. 

With  this  preliminary  classification  of  German  humanists,  it 
will  be  found  profitable  to  approach  the  subject  from  another 
standpoint,  and  to  note  the  various  centres  of  German  life  in  which 
humanistic  effort  finds  its  origin  and  support.  In  Italy  the  uni- 
versities were  not  centres  of  the  new  learning.  Its  leaders  were 
rather  to  be  found  in  the  courts  of  princes  or  in  the  administrative 
bureaux  of  republics.  This  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
universities  of  Italy  had  been  for  so  long  the  great  professional 
schools  of  Europe.  The  "bread-studies"  were  too  firmly  en- 
trenched there  to  be  driven  into  a  subordinate  position  by  mere 
cultural  studies.  In  Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  the  universi- 
ties were  relatively  more  numerous,  of  later  growth,  and  their 
interests  less  definitely  determined.  Lecturers  upon  poetry  and 
classical  authors  found  little  difficulty  in  filling  their  benches  at 
the  expense  of  the  more  respectable  departments.  Progress  in 
this  direction,  however,  varied  according  to  the  influence  that 
presided  over  the  direction  of  each  separate  seat  of  learning.1  At 
Cologne,  for  example,  where  Dominican  influences  were  par- 
amount, the  new  learning  was  looked  upon  as  questionable ; 

'  The  universities  of  Germany  at  this  period  were:  Prague  (1348),  Vienna 
(1365),  Heidelberg  (1385),  Cologne  (1388),  Erfurt  (1392),  Leipzig  (1409), 
Rostock  (1409),  Greifswald  (1456),  Freiburg  (1460),  Basel  (1460),  Ingolstadt 
(1472),  Mainz  (1476),  Tubingen  (1476),  Wittenberg  (1502)  and  Frankfort-on- 
the-Oder  (1506). 


6  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

Erfurt,  on  the  other  hand,  owing  to  the  mild  spirit  there  prevail- 
ing, became  the  true  centre  of  advance.  Between  these  intellect- 
ual poles  lay  the  other  universities,  inclining  to  this  side  or  to  the 
other,  according  as  the  nature  and  traditional  bias  of  the  domi- 
nant territorial  sovereign  determined.  The  fact  that  the  study  of 
the  humanities  afforded  preparation  for  no  definite  career,  led  to 
a  vast  increase  in  the  number  of  students,  whose  residence  at  the 
university  was  fixed  by  no  particular  curriculum,  and  in  this 
manner  to  a  feeling  of  contempt  for  those  degrees  and  titles  which, 
in  the  case  of  the  older  studies,  had  been  the  necessary  qualifica- 
tions for  professional  life.  Again,  by  increasing  the  content  of 
the  university  curriculum,  humanism  discouraged  the  empty 
routine  of  disputation  upon  points  of  infinitesimal  importance, 
which  in  mediaeval  times  made  up  so  considerable  a  part  of  uni- 
versity work. 

It  was  not  in  the  universities  alone  that  the  new  learning  made 
its  influence  felt.  Its  progress  was  marked  in  the  great  secondary 
schools,  such  as  Deventer,  Miinster  and  Schlettstadt,  where  thou- 
sands of  young  men  secured  such  preparation  as  was  necessary  to 
fit  them  for  teaching  and  other  intellectual  employments,  as  well 
as  for  the  advanced  work  of  the  universities.  The  fact  that  it  was 
the  chief  object  of  these  schools  to  afford  a  working  knowledge  of 
the  Latin  language  made  them  especially  susceptible  to  changes 
which  had  for  their  object  a  substitution  of  classical  models  for 
the  monkish  Latin  so  generally  in  use.  This  change  made  itself 
manifest  in  the  employment  of  new  text-books  in  the  place  of  the 
clumsy  and  inadequate  grammars  and.  lexicons  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  furthermore,  in  the  rejection  of  Latin  writers  of  the 
declining  Roman  Empire  and  of  the  schools,  in  favor  of  the  more 
elegant  authors  of  classical  antiquity.  There  also  took  place,  in 
the  more  enterprising  of  the  schools,  an  extension  of  the  course  of 
study,  to  include  at  least  the  elements  of  Greek  and  Hebrew. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  an  intense  interest  in  edu- 
cation reigned  throughout  Germany  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  that  many  of  the  prizes  in  official  and  in  public  life 
were  to  be  won  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  new  learning. 
The  introduction  of  the  Roman  law  into  Germany,  the  increase  of 
international  communication,  both  diplomatic  and  commercial, 
called  for  men  of  training  and  culture.  The  crowds  of  scholars 
that  thronged  the  highways  leading  to  the  great  towns,  the  large 


THE  RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY.  7 

attendance  at  the  universities  and  the  crowded  condition  of  the 
lower  schools  give  evidence  of  a  desire  for  intellectual  advance- 
ment which,  when  the  obstacles  in  the  path  of  the  ambitious  stu- 
dent are  taken  into  the  account,  has  never  been  surpassed  in  sub- 
sequent times. 

Other  centres  of  humanism  were  the  courts  of  princes.  Not 
only  were  skilled  I/atinists  and  students  of  the  laws  a  necessary 
adjunct  to  the  establishments  of  rulers;  their  ornamental  qualities 
were  equally  in  demand.  After  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury the  greater  German  princes  were  sufficiently  instructed  in 
the  essentials  of  the  new  learning  to  recognize  its  importance  in 
measuring  a  ruler's  appreciation  of  the  modern  spirit. 

Two  emperors  are  associated  with  the  Renaissance  in  Ger- 
many. Frederick  III.,  who  reigned  from  1440  until  1492,  was 
himself  no  humanist,  either  by  education  or  by  inclination,  and 
the  constantly  depleted  condition  of  his  treasury  prevented  any 
considerable  patronage  of  learning.  It  was  only  in  the  reign  of 
his  son  and  successor  Maximilian  I.,  who  by  his  marriage  with 
Mary  of  Burgundy  added  the  rich  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  to 
the  Hapsburg  possessions,  that  the  imperial  court  became  a 
potent  factor  in  the  Renaissance.  Maximilian  was  himself  a  hu- 
manist of  no  small  pretensions.  His  political  duties,  which  were 
of  the  most  complex  and  exacting  nature,  gave  him,  it  is  true, 
little  opportunity  for  actual  composition;  but  in  addition  to  the 
fact  that  he  made  his  court  the  centre  of  intellectual  activity,  he 
even  found  time  to  evolve  the  material  for  two  narratives,  the 
"  Teuerdank"  and  the  "  Weisskunig, "  which  his  secretaries, 
under  his  direction,  cast  into  literary  form.  A  more  important 
contribution,  however,  to  the  advancement  of  learning,  was  the 
stimulus  he  afforded  to  the  study  of  German  history.  His  pro- 
ject for  a  great  collection  of  German  monumenta  remained  for 
later  and  wealthier  generations  to  carry  out. 

Maximilian's  interest  in  the  new  learning  was  shown  also  in 
his  affection  for  the  University  of  Vienna,  and  his  personal  atten- 
tion to  its  welfare.  The  proximity  of  Vienna  to  the  Italian 
lands  was  perhaps  a  reason  why  the  intellectual  development  at 
the  imperial  university  was  more  of  a  piece  with  Italian  human- 
ism than  with  the  culture  that  prevailed  at  the  northern  seats  of 
learning.  At  Vienna  the  art  of  Latin  poetry  received  especial 
attention,  and  the  greatest  of  the  German  stylists,  Conrad  Celtes, 


8  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

who  produced  many  volumes  of  verse  in  the  manner  of  Ovid  and 
other  classical  poets,  found  the  atmosphere  of  Vienna  most  con- 
ducive to  this  phase  of  humanism.  Here,  under  the  auspices  of 
Maximilian,  a  special  faculty  of  poetry  was  organized,  and  the 
laurel  crown  and  other  insignia  were  conferred  upon  each  appli- 
cant who  gave  satisfactory  evidence  of  possessing  the  qualifica- 
tions of  a  professional  verse-maker. 

Of  another  character  was  the  court  of  the  Elector  of  Sax- 
ony at  Wittenberg.  The  Elector,  Frederick  the  Wise,  is  an 
enigmatical  character,  whose  characteristic  silence  passes,  as  is 
so  often  the  case,  for  evidence  of  latent  strength.  That 
strength,  however,  was  wanting  at  a  critical  moment  in  his 
career,  when,  during  lyUther's  absence  at  the  Wartburg,  the  whole 
ecclesiastical  and  social  edifice  seemed  likely  to  fall  about  his 
ears.  The  Elector  was  much  less  a  modern  man  than  Maxi- 
milian, both  in  training  and  in  inclination.  He  knew  little 
Latin,  and  his  newly  founded  university  at  Wittenberg  bade  fair 
to  be  little  more  than  a  feeble  reflection  of  the  great  humanistic 
centre  at  Erfurt,  until  the  stirring  events  of  1517,  so  fatal  to  the 
purposes  of  the  humanists,  drew  the  attention  of  the  world  upon 
the  little  Saxon  town  and  supplied  the  Elector  with  one  of  the 
great  r61es  of  modern  history. 

A  more  truly  humanistic  centre  was  the  archiepiscopal  seat 
of  Mainz,  where  the  young  and  energetic  sovereign,  Albert  of 
Brandenburg,  archbishop,  cardinal  and  elector,  gathered  about 
him  a  coterie  of  scholars  for  the  glory  of  his  reign  and  the  embel- 
lishment of  his  court.  So  long  as  rivers  constituted  the  main 
avenues  of  intercourse  in  Europe,  the  Rhine  valley  ever  exhibited 
a  stage  of  material  and  intellectual  progress  in  advance  of  the  less 
accessible  portions  of  Germany.  Mainz  itself,  the  seat  of  the 
new  art  ot  printing,  the  last  station  on  the  way  to  the  great  fair  at 
Frankfort,  was  a  point  of  first  importance  on  this  route  of  travel 
and  exchange.  Its  university  was  in  touch  with  Cologne  on  the 
north  and  Heidelberg  on  the  south,  and  as  temporal  ruler  of  a 
wealthy  and  populous  district  the  Elector  was  one  of  the  most 
powerful  princes  of  Germany. 

Next  to  the  imperial  and  princely  courts  the  cities  were  the 
most  important  centres  of  the  new  learning.  Particularly  in 
South  Germany  the  fifteenth  century  witnessed  a  remarkable 
urban  development.  Augsburg,  Nuremberg,  Ratisbon  and  Ulm, 


THE  RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY.  9 

distributing  points  for  the  swelling  stream  of  Eastern  wares  that 
poured  into  Central  Europe  by  way  of  Venice  and  the  Alpine 
passes,  became  great  centres  of  wealth,  and  brought  forward  a 
new  and  powerful  social  element,  the  burgher  class,  men  of  the 
new  time,  keenly  alive  to  the  spirit  of  progress,  unhampered 
with  precedent  and  eager  to  take  advantage  of  the  new  opportu- 
nities of  pressing  forward  to  importance  and  distinction.  The 
sons  of  these  shrewd  tradesmen,  reared  in  an  environment  of  in- 
dustry and  thrift,  were  much  more  likely  to  qualify  themselves  for 
positions  in  private  and  in  official  life  requiring  intellectual  skill 
and  technical  knowledge,  than  the  sons  of  a  rash  and  undisci- 
plined nobility,  accustomed  only  to  the  pursuit  of  inclination  and 
pleasure. 

These  men  of  the  upper  middle  class  aided  the  progress  of  hu- 
manism in  various  ways — by  their  patronage  of  artists  and  liter- 
ary men,  for  example.  This  was  of  especial  value  to  literature  at 
a  time  when  the  profits  of  publication  could  hardly  be  expected 
to  afford  a  livelihood.  All  over  Europe  we  find  writers  dedicat- 
ing their  works  and  fugitive  pieces  to  men  of  wealth  and  distinc- 
tion, from  whom  an  honorarium  might  be  expected  in  token  of 
appreciation.  To  stand  in  epistolary  relations  with  so  great  a 
humanist  as  Erasmus  was  an  honor  which  many  a  weal  thy  burgher 
felt  well  worth  a  generous  purse.  Even  if  he  did  not  recognize 
that  such  intercourse  would  snatch  him  from  eventual  oblivion, 
yet  the  fact  that  Erasmus'  letters  became  at  once  the  property  of 
the  literary  world  was  sufficient  to  secure  an  honorable  notice 
before  his  contemporaries.  Again,  these  humanistic  procliv- 
ities, particularly  in  the  time  of  Maximilian,  were  often  sufficient 
to  secure  intimate  relations  with  the  imperial  crown.  Conrad 
Peutinger  and  Willibald  Pirckheimer,  distinguished  representa- 
tives of  the  burgher  class  in  Augsburg  and  Nuremberg,  not  only 
materially  increased  their  local  importance,  but  reflected  lustre 
upon  their  native  cities  by  means  of  their  intimate  relations  with 
the  Emperor  Maximilian  and  the  assistance  rendered  him  in  his 
effort  to  collect  the  monuments  of  German  antiquity.  Peutinger 
and  Pirckheimer  were  products  of  the  best  Italian  and  German 
culture,  and  were  themselves  productive  humanists.  Their 
wealth  enabled  them  not  only  to  entertain  and  aid  their  compan- 
ions in  letters,  but  also,  by  their  patronage  of  artists  and  anti- 
quaries, to  accumulate  large  private  collections,  in  which  preroga- 


IO  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

tive  of  wealth  they  were  pioneers  in  Germany.  Their  affluence 
is  in  direct  contrast  with  the  Grub-street  conditions  which  pre- 
vailed generally  in  literary  circles  at  the  time;  but  the  contrast  is 
softened  and  humanized  by  the  fact  that  their  wealth  was  so  freely 
employed,  both  in  relieving  the  material  needs  of  their  literary 
contemporaries,  and  in  making  possible  the  publication  of  their 
works. 

In  another  manner,  however,  the  cities  contributed  even  more 
largely  to  the  advancement  of  learning.  Their  liberality  in 
the  foundation  of  bursaries  made  it  possible  for  a  multitude  of  stu- 
dents from  rural  parts  to  obtain  such  education  as  only  towns 
afforded.  In  the  eyes  of  the  fifteenth  century  citizen  it  was  one 
of  the  essential  attributes  of  a  large  and  prosperous  town  that  it 
should  be  the  educational  centre  of  its  commercial  territory;  and 
not  only  did  the  bursaries  furnish  lodging  and  warmth  during  the 
winter  season,  but  the  citizens  themselves  supported  with  alms  a 
great  body  of  poor  students  who  spent  their  afternoons  in  singing 
for  bread  through  the  streets.  The  student  and  the  street  musi- 
cian were  one  at  the  beginning  of  modern  times. 

Another  institution  that  contributed  to  the  advancement  and 
direction  of  literary  effort  was  the  society  of  literati  (sodalitas  lit- 
eraria).  There  were  two  of  these  in  Germany,  the  Danubian  and 
the  Rhenish  (sodalitates  Danubiana  et  Rhenana).  The  former  had 
its  permanent  home  at  Vienna,  where  it  enjoyed  the  patron- 
age of  the  Emperor,  and  the  personal  interests  of  its  most  import- 
ant member,  Conrad  Celtes,  threw  its  activity  almost  exclusively 
into  the  direction  of  verse- production.  The  Rhenish  society  had 
no  such  distinctive  seat,  but  included  in  its  membership  the  pa- 
trician humanists  of  Augsburg  and  Nuremberg,  the  learned 
bishop  of  Worms,  Johann  von  Dalberg  (1445-1503),  the  Heidel- 
berg literary  group,  and  Johannes  Trithemius  (1462-1516),  abbot 
of  Sponheim,  famous  not  only  for  his  general  literary  activity,  but 
also  on  account  of  his  supposed  magical  powers,  to  which  a  still 
credulous  age  attributed  much  importance. 

It  is  by  comparing  these  German  societies  with  the  academies 
of  Italy  that  we  are  able  to  arrive  at  the  general  relation  of  the 
German  to  the  Italian  Renaissance.  The  German  movement  is 
of  a  homelier  and  less  aspiring  character.  While  the  Florentine 
academy  sought  nothing  less  than  a  restoration  of  Greek  philoso- 
phy, the  Danubian  society  was  content  with  paraphrasing  Ovid 


THE  RENAISSANCE   IN  GERMANY.  II 

and  Virgil.  The  Roman  academy  undertook  to  discern  and  in- 
terpret the  antiquities  of  that  centre  of  the  classical  world,  while 
the  Rhenish  society  attempted  nothing  more  ambitious  than  the 
publication  of  the  works  of  the  nun  Hrotsvitha. 

But  if  German  humanists  failed  to  inoculate  their  fellow  citi- 
zens with  the  philosophic  spirit  of  Greece  and  Rome,  they  at 
least  discovered  many  practical  applications  of  their  learning,  and 
opened  the  way  toward  a  larger  view  of  human  life.  That  the 
spirit  of  theological  strife  descended  and  closed  this  way,  and 
filled  the  arena  with  internecine  struggle,  so  that  for  two  centu- 
ries Germany  was  shut  out  from  the  van  of  European  progress, 
was  a  result  which  the  ablest  of  German  humanists  predicted  at 
the  opening  of  the  Lutheran  controversy.  It  was  not  the  way 
Erasmus  would  have  chosen.  Whether  it  led,  after  a  lapse  of 
centuries,  to  as  good  or  to  better  results,  is  one  of  the  problems  of 
history  for  whose  solution  the  material  will  ever  be  wanting. 


12  SOURCE-BOOK   OP  THE   GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

RUDOLF  AGRICOLA. 

Rudolf  Agricola,  or  Rudolf  Hustnann  as  he  was  called  before  the  adoption 
of  his  scholarly  name,  was  born  in  1443  near  Groningen  in  Friesland.  His 
parents  were  in  modest  circumstances.  Agricola  received  his  elementary  edu- 
cation in  Groningen;  at  Erfurt  he  attained  to  his  baccalaureate  degree  and 
went  thence  to  Lowen  in  Brabant  for  mathematics  and  philosophy.  Agri- 
cola's  disposition  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  during  his  residence  in  Brabant  he 
avoided,  so  far  as  possible,  the  rough  and  roystering  life  of  his  countrymen, 
and  sought  the  more  refined  and  elegant  society  of  the  French.  At  the  age 
of  sixteen  he  received  the  master's  degree  at  Lb'wen,  and  continued  his 
theological  studies  at  Cologne.  At  the  age  of  23  he  went  to  Pavia,  and  there 
took  up  the  study  of  law,  in  accordance  with  the  wish  of  his  family  and 
friends.  His  interest  in  the  law  was  feeble,  however,  and  as  time  advanced 
he  gave  himself  up  to  the  study  of  classical  literature.  In  Pavia  he  became 
acquainted  with  Johann  von  Dalberg,  who  afterwards  became  bishop  of 
Worms,  and  remained  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  this  influential  man  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  In  order  to  pursue  to  better  advantage  the  study 
of  Greek,  Agricola  went  to  Ferrara,  where  he  remained  six  or  seven  years  at 
the  court  of  Hercules  of  Este.  His  presence  here  was  the  more  appreciated 
on  account  of  his  musical  skill  and  his  contribution  to  the  services  of  the 
ducal  chapel. 

Upon  Agricola's  return  from  Italy  he  spent  three  years  in  his  native 
country,  residing  mostly  in  Groningen.  In  1484,  at  the  urgent  request  of  his 
friend,  von  Dalberg,  who  in  1482  had  been  chosen  bishop  of  Worms,  he 
made  his  residence  at  Heidelberg.  Here  he  took  up  the  study  of  Hebrew, 
with  the  intention  of  revising  the  Latin  version  of  the  Old  Testament.  In 
1485  von  Dalberg  and  Agricola  made  the  journey  to  Rome  together.  On 
the  homeward  journey  he  fell  sick  and  reached  Heidelberg  only  to  die  in 
the  arms  of  his  friend  and  patron,  at  the  age  of  46. 

In  his  habits  and  talk  Agricola  more  nearly  resembled  the  Italians  than 
the  Germans  of  his  time.  His  interests  were  in  music  and  painting,  rather 
than  in  the  coarser  pleasures  of  his  countrymen.  One  of  the  earliest  of 
German  humanists,  his  inclinations  and  extensive  Italian  experience  made 
him  the  most  polished  of  the  group. 

Agricola's  chief  work  was  De  inventione  dialectica,  begun  in  Ferrara  and 
finished  in  1479  in  Germany.  He  left  also  many  letters,  several  translations 
and  lesser  works,  including  a  biography  of  Petrarch  (written  at  Pavia  in 
U77),  whose  personality  he  much  admired. 

FROM  A  LETTER  TO  JACOB   BARBIRIANUS.* 

In  the  arrangement  of  your  studies  two  considerations,  it 
seems  to  me,  come  prominently  forward.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
necessary  to  determine  what  department  of  knowledge  shall  be 

*Sammlung  der  bedeutendsten  padagogischen  Schriften  aus  alter  und 
neuer  Zeit.  15.  Band.  Paderborn,  1893. 


RUDOLF   AGRICOLA.  13 

chosen.  Then  you  must  consider  by  what  method  it  is  possible 
to  achieve  the  greatest  success  in  the  department  already  chosen. 
I  wish  to  make  myself  clear  on  both  these  points.  For  some 
persons  the  compelling  force  of  circumstances,  having  its  origin 
either  in  external  conditions  or  in  natural  capacity,  determines  th» 
choice  of  a  profession.  Others,  on  the  contrary,  turn  with  a  free- 
dom of  selection  to  that  which  they  hold  to  be  the  best.  If,  for 
example,  one  has  limited  resources,  he  turns  to  that  occupation 
in  which  he  may  hope  to  secure  for  himself,  in  the  briefest  possi- 
ble space  of  time,  the  means  for  satisfying  the  needs  of  his  exist- 
ence. If,  furthermore,  one  is  by  nature  less  energetic  and  pos- 
sesses a  weak  intelligence,  then  for  fear  of  wasting  his  effort 
he  may  not  select  that  department  which  in  fact  most  appeals  to 
him,  but  will  be  obliged  to  select  that  in  which  he  may  achieve 
the  greatest  success.  In  the  same  way  would  he  err,  to  whom 
abundant  means  and  fortunate  spiritual  gifts  have  been  confided, 
if  with  all  his  strength  he  did  not  pursue  the  highest  aims,  or  if 
able  to  reach  the  highest  place,  he  should  content  himself  with 
the  second  or  the  third.  Therefore  one  chooses  the  civil,  another 
the  canon  law,  and  still  a  third  medicine.  Very  many  devote 
themselves  to  those  wordy  utterances  resounding  with  empty  ver- 
bal contests,  which  are  so  often  mistaken  for  knowledge.  They 
pass  their  days  in  labored  and  interminable  disputations,  or,  to 
use  an  expression  much  to  the  point,  with  riddles,  which  •  in  the 
course  of  many  centuries  have  found  no  Oedipus  to  solve  them, 
nor  ever  will  find  him.  With  these  things  they  torture  the  ears 
of  the  unfortunate  youth.  Such  nourishment  they  provide  for 
their  pupils,  with  force,  so  to  speak.  In  this  manner  they  kill  the 
most  promising  talents,  and  destroy  the  fruit  while  yet  in  the  blos- 
som. Nevertheless,  I  commend  all  these  intellectual  exercises, 
and  would  commend  them  still  more,  if  they  were  undertaken  in 
a  proper  and  orderly  manner.  For  I  am  not  so  foolish  as  alone  to 
condemn  what  so  many  praise.  Why  should  I  too  not  approve  it, 
when  I  see  that  many  thereby  have  attained  to  wealth,  position, 
esteem,  fame  and  distinction  ?  Indeed  I  know  and  willingly  ac- 
knowledge that  many  of  the  sciences,  as  Cicero  says,  are  more 
easily  converted  into  gain  than  others,  of  which  it  is  said  they 
are  unfruitful  and  resultless,  since  they  enrich  the  spirit  rather 
than  the  pocket.  If  then  you  have  gain  in  mind,  you  must 
choose  one  of  the  much  celebrated  professions,  by  the  practice  of 


14  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

which  you  may  become  rich.  At  the  same  time,  you  must 
always  remember  that  the  fame  which  you  secure  in  this  manner, 
you  always  have  in  common  with  every  clever  man  of  business. 
But  if  you  cherish  the  juster  view,  that  that  which  is  noble 
should  be  pursued  for  its  own  sake,  and  if  you  are  persuaded  that 
your  resources  are  sufficient  for  your  modest  demands — for  when 
our  demands  are  excessive  even  the  slender  means  of  others 
seem  to  us  too  great,  and  our  own,  on  the  contrary,  were  they 
ever  so  great,  too  small — then  I  advise  you  to  turn  your  attention 
to  philosophy;  by  which  I  mean  to  say,  give  yourself  the  trouble 
to  acquire  a  competent  knowledge  of  things  in  general,  and  the 
ability  to  express  adequately  what  you  know.  This  knowledge, 
like  the  essence  of  the  things  that  form  its  subject,  is  twofold, 
one  branch  relating  to  our  acts  and  customs.  Upon  it  reposes 
the  whole  theory  of  a  proper  and  well  regulated  manner  of 
living.  This  sphere  of  philosophical  activity  furnishes  the  sci- 
ence of  ethics.  It  is  of  the  first  importance,  and  deserves  our 
special  attention.  It  is  to  be  sought  for,  not  only  among  the 
philosophers,  who  treat  it  as  a  branch  of  literature,  as  for  exam- 
ple, Aristotle,  Cicero,  Seneca  and  others,  who  have  written  in 
Latin,  or  who  at  least  have  been  translated  into  Latin,  so  that  it 
is  worth  while  to  read  them;  but  also  among  the  historians, 
poets  and  orators.  They  teach  morality,  not  systematically,  it  is 
true,  but  they  indicate  it — and  this  is  indeed  the  most  effective — 
in  their  praise  of  the  good  and  their  blame  of  the  evil,  and  by 
their  use  of  examples  of  virtue  and  its  antithesis  by  way  of  illus- 
tration. By  reading  them,  you  arrive  at  the  contemplation  of 
the  Scriptures;  because  you  must  arrange  your  life  in  accordance 
with  their  injunctions;  to  the  Bible  you  must  trust,  as  to  a  cer- 
tain guide  in  matters  of  the  soul's  salvation.  All  that  which  is 
furnished^from  other  sources  is  more  or  less  mixed  with  error; 
for  they  did  not  succeed  in  constructing  an  ideal  of  life  that  was 
absolutely  correct  and  irreproachable  in  every  respect.  Either 
they  did  not  recognize  the  object  and  purpose  of  life,  or  they  had 
only  indistinct  perceptions,  and  looked,  so  to  speak,  through  a 
veil  of  cloud.  Therefore,  although  they  talked  much  about  these 
matters,  it  was  not  because  they  were  thoroughly  permeated  with 
their  doctrine.  It  is  otherwise  with  Holy  Writ.  That  is  as 
far  removed  from  all  error  as  God,  who  has  given  it  to  us;  it 
alone  leads  us  on  the  sure  and  certain  way.  It  removes  all  ob- 


RUDOLF   AGRICO^A.  15 

scurity,  and  permits  us  not  to  be  deceived,  to  lose  ourselves,  or  go 
astray. 

There  are,  however,  other  things,  a  knowledge  of  which  serves 
rather  to  adorn  the  spirit,  and  the  exploration  of  which  must  be 
regarded  rather  as  a  noble  pleasure  than  as  a  necessary  condition  of 
existence.  Here  belong  the  investigations  into  the  essence  of  things. 
Multiform  and  manifold  is  this  domain,  and  upon  its  various  sides 
it  has  been  treated  by  talented  men,  gifted  with  the  power  of  ex- 
pression. If  this  sort  of  activity  is  not  absolutely  necessary  for 
the  development  of  a  moral  man,  at  least  it  contributes  not  a  lit- 
tle thereto;  for  when  a  true  interest  in  scientific  investigation  has 
once  seized  upon  a  man,  there  is  no  more  room  in  his  soul  for  low 
and  common-place  effort.  That  man  learns  to  despise  and  belittle 
things  which  the  common  herd  gazes  upon  with  admiration.  He 
pities  those  who  are  held  to  be  fortunate  on  account  of  the  pos- 
session of  such  things,  because  he  recognizes  how  vain  and  transi- 
tory are  these  possessions  in  their  nature,  and  because  he  recog- 
nizes that  no  greater  misfortune  could  fall  upon  the  universe  than 
that  all  its  parts,  even  the  most  subordinate,  should  be  transformed 
into  such  things  as  gold  and  jewels,  to  which  the  blindness  of 
humanity  has  attributed  so  high  a  value.  With  the  aid  of  this 
knowledge  we  recognize  also  the  frailty  and  transitory  nature  of 
our  bodies,  exposed  to  the  mutability  of  events.  Thereby  we  see 
that  we  must  give  our  whole  attention  to  the  soul,  that  to  its  care 
we  must  devote  our  time,  since  in  its  care  no  pains  are  thrown 
away,  no  success  is  perishable.  I  pass  over  much  in  my  discus- 
sion, for  everything  that  could  be  said  in  this  connection  would 
fill  a  book  and  not  merely  a  single  letter.  It  is  sufficient,  more- 
over, to  have  merely  indicated  what  is  already  known  to  you, 
that  this  branch  of  knowledge  is  worthy  the  highest  efforts  of  an 
able  man. 

I  am  not  willing,  however,  that  you  should  assimilate  merely 
the  rudiments  of  this  science  as  at  present — we  are  conscious  of 
it  daily — it  is  presented  in  the  schools;  for  that  you  have  already 
done  with  zeal  and  willingness,  in  a  manner  worthy  of  recogni- 
tion. It  is  rather  my  meaning  that  you  must  come  nearer  to  the 
things  themselves,  and  investigate  the  situation  and  the  natural 
qualities  of  countries,  mountains  and  rivers,  the  customs  of  peo- 
ples, their  boundaries  and  their  conditions,  the  territorial  posses- 
sions which  they  have  inherited  or  extended,  the  virtues  of  trees 


16  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

and  plants,  which  Theophrastus  has  recounted,  and  the  history  of 
living  creatures,  which  Aristotle  has  treated  from  the  literary  point 
of  view.  Why  should  I  further  mention  the  literary  treatment  of 
agriculture  and  of  medicine?  These  authors  have  written  in  many 
fields,  one  on  the  art  of  war,  another  on  architecture,  a  third  on 
painting  and  sculpture.  These  arts,  it  is  true,  do  not  belong  ex- 
actly to  that  part  of  knowledge  which  explores  the  essence 
of  things,  but  they  are  related  to  it,  nevertheless,  and  spring, 
so  to  speak,  from  the  same  source.  Therefore,  I  have  no  reason 
to  be  apprehensive,  if  I  seem  forced  to  present  them  in  the  same 
connection. 

All  that,  however,  which,  as  I  have  said,  has  a  bearing  upon 
our  customs  and  upon  the  nature  of  things,  you  must  obtain  from 
those  authors  who  have  presented  these  things  in  the  clearest 
light.  Then  you  will  acquire  at  once  a  knowledge  of  the  things 
themselves,  and  that  which  I  regard  as  most  important  in  a  sec- 
ondary degree — the  gift  of  suitable  presentation.  You  are  aware, 
moreover,  that  upon  this  point  the  greatest  men  afford  much 
guidance.  But  it  is  necessary  that  you  should  lay  aside  the 
teaching  which  has  been  given  us  as  boys  at  school.  Gather 
up  all  that  you  have  learned  in  this  field,  together  with  the 
prejudices  that  accompany  it,  condemn  it,  and  make  up  your 
mind  to  give  it  up,  unless  you  are  again  put  in  possession  of  it 
through  the  recommendation  of  better  vouchers,  as  though  by 
official  decree.  Therefore  it  will  be  very  useful  for  you  to  trans- 
late everything  that  you  read  in  the  works  of  classical  authors 
into  your  mother  tongue,  using  words  as  apt  and  significant  as 
possible;  for  by  this  exercise  you  will  bring  it  about  that  when 
you  are  obliged  to  speak  or  write,  the  Latin  expressions  will 
evolve  themselves  from  your  mind  in  immediate  connection  with 
their  originals  in  the  vernacular.  If,  moreover,  you  wish  to  com- 
mit something  to  writing,  it  is  recommended  that  you  first  ar- 
range the  material  as  completely  and  correctly  as  possible  in  the 
vernacular,  and  then  proceed  to  express  it  appropriately  and  forc- 
ibly in  pure  Latin.  In  this  manner  the  presentation  will  be  clear 
and  exhaustive;  for  it  is  easier  to  detect  an  error  in  the  vernacu- 
lar. In  the  same  way  every  one  will  notice  most  readily,  in  the 
language  most  familiar  to  him,  whether  a  point  has  been  expressed 
too  obscurely,  too  briefly,  in  too  labored  a  manner,  or  in  a  man- 
ner not  in  keeping  with  the  subject.  In  order  to  avoid  these 


RUDOLF  AGRICOLA.  IJ 

mishaps,  seek  to  express  everything  that  you  write  in  the  purest, 
that  is,  the  most  accurate  L,atin  possible.  The  adornment  of  the 
discourse  is  a  matter  of  secondary  importance.  This  can  only  be 
arrived  at  when  the  presentation  is  sound  and  faultless.  It  is 
with  discourse  as  with  the  human  body;  if  all  parts  are  not  in 
suitable  condition  ;  if,  for  example,  they  do  not  possess  the  right 
form  and  size,  it  is  in  vain  that  you  embellish  them  with  objects 
of  adornment.  The  ornament  stands  in  sharp  contrast  to  the 
body  itself,  and  the  foreign  embellishment  makes  the  distortion 
all  the  more  noticeable  by  comparison.  But  enough  of  the 
studies  which  you  must  pursue  in  this  direction. 

It  remains  for  me  to  indicate  the  method  by  means  of  which,  in 
my  opinion,  you  may  reach  the  best  results.  Many,  no  doubt, 
would  differ  with  me,  but  my  view  of  the  matter  is  as  follows: 
Whoever,  in  the  acquisition  of  a  science  will  obtain  a  result  pro- 
portionate with  his  effort,  must  observe  three  things  in  particular: 
He  must  grasp  clearly  and  correctly  that  which  he  learns;  he 
must  retain  accurately  that  which  he  has  grasped;  and  he  must 
put  himself  in  a  position  to  produce  something  independently,  as 
a  result  of  that  which  he  has  learned.  The  first  requisite,  there- 
fore, is  careful  reading;  the  second,  a  trustworthy  memory;  the 
third,  continuous  exercise.  In  reading,  the  effort  must  be,  to 
thoroughly  penetrate  and  comprehend  in  its  full  meaning  that 
which  is  read.  It  is  not  sufficient  to  understand  what  is  treated 
of;  with  classical  writers  it  is  furthermore  necessary  to  give  your 
attention  to  the  meaning  of  expressions,  to  the  peculiarities  of  ar- 
rangement, to  the  correctness  and  fitness  of  the  diction,  to  the 
balance  of  the  sentences,  and  to  the  ability  of  the  writer  to  clarify 
a  subject,  to  clothe  the  weightiest  and  most  obscure  things  in 
words  and  bring  them  forth  into  the  light  of  publicity.  It  must 
not  be  said,  however,  that  when  by  chance  we  come  across  a  pas- 
sage in  itself  obscure,  or  at  least  unintelligible  to  us,  we  shall 
stop  and  go  no  further.  Many  throw  their  book  at  once  aside, 
give  up  their  studies  entirely,  or  bewail  their  limited  intelligence. 
On  the  contrary,  we  persevere  in  our  efforts,  and  are  not  neces- 
sarily vexed.  If  you  find  something,  the  meaning  of  which  you 
cannot  at  once  determine,  it  is  best  to  pass  over  it  for  the  moment, 
and  reserve  it  for  another  opportunity,  until  you  find  a  man  or  a 
book  that  will  afford  an  explanation.  Oftentimes  repeated  reading 
is  sufficient  to  clear  the  matter  up;  for  one  day  teaches  the  next, 

2 


1 8  SOURCE- BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

as  I  am  fond  of  saying.  If  Quintilian  reckoned  it  among  the 
virtues  of  a  grammarian  to  be  ignorant  of  many  things,  how 
much  more,  I  will  not  say  necessary,  but  indeed  pardonable  it  is 
in  our  case,  if  we  now  and  then  are  ignorant  of  something.  I 
wish  above  all  things,  however,  not  to  give  the  impression  that  in 
this  discussion  I  am  making  a  plea  for  superficiality.  On  the  con- 
trary! I  believe  that  there  is  no  way  in  which  I  can  more  effectu- 
ally put  a  spur  to  zeal  than  by  making  it  clear,  how  by  reading 
itself  one  opens  the  way  to  comprehension;  and  that  all  difficul- 
ties which  arise  in  reading  are  by  reading  itself  set  aside. 

The  next  requisite  is  an  accurate  memory.  Memory  depends 
immediately  upon  natural  qualities;  but  even  here  art  may  be 
helpful.  This  art  has  been  presented  in  various  ways  by  differ- 
ent teachers.  Nevertheless  the  essentials  are  the  same.  This 
art  seems  to  me  especially  adapted  for  two  sorts  of  uses.  It  often 
happens  that  you  are  compelled  to  speak  or  to  bring  forward  a 
great  number  of  things  without  special  preparation.  The  danger 
is  that  you  will  fail  in  respect  of  consecutiveness  or  in  respect  of 
completeness.  If,  for  example,  you  have  to  present  certain 
claims  before  a  prince  or  before  a  senate,  or  you  are  obliged  to 
reply  to  the  arguments  of  an  opponent,  then  you  will  most  ap- 
propriately seek  help  in  this  art.  If  it  is  desirable  to  exercise  the 
memory,  however,  it  can  best  be  done  in  the  following  manner: 
That  this  method  for  the  strengthening  of  the  memory  is  in  the 
highest  degree  beneficial  Quintilian  assures  us,  and  experience 
teaches  us  as  well,  if  we  but  make  the  trial;  for  the  memory, 
quite  as  much  as  any  other  gift,  is  capable  of  being  strengthened 
by  frequent  exercise,  or  of  being  weakened  by  a  lack  of  interest 
or  by  neglect.  If  it  is  wished  that  certain  things  should  be 
firmly  lodged  in  our  mind,  it  is  necessary  first  of  all  to  grasp  them 
as  intensively  as  possible,  then  to  reproduce  them  as  frequently  as 
possible,  and  thereby  establish  the  highest  degree  of  certainty 
conceivable.  Finally,  we  must  take  up  this  exercise  when  our 
spirit  is  otherwise  unoccupied  and  free  from  the  burden  of  press- 
ing thoughts.  For,  let  us  do  what  we  will,  it  still  remains  an 
established  fact  that  we  cannot  do  two  things  properly  at  the 
same  time.  True  it  is,  as  Sallust  says,  that  the  mind  is  strongest 
when  a  strain  is  put  upon  it;  but  it  cannot  possibly  be  effective 
when  it  is  directed  into  several  channels  at  the  same  time.  The 
third  and  last  point  that  I  have  to  raise  treats  of  the  art  and 


RUDOLPH  AGRICOLA.  19 

manner  in  which  we  may  derive  an  individual  benefit  from  what 
we  have  learned,  and  bring  our  knowledge  to  light;  for  the  pro- 
ducts of  our  effort  ought  not  to  remain  idle  and  unfruitful  in  the 
depths  of  our  minds,  but  like  seed  corn,  which  has  been  entrusted 
to  the  earth,  they  should  bring  forth  abundant  increase.  This 
subject  is  very  comprehensive  and  productive.  It  deserves  an 
extensive  treatment,  which  I  have  in  mind  for  some  further  op- 
portunity; for  upon  this  question  depends  the  principal  reward 
for  a  long-continued  effort  and  for  much  trouble  expended  in  pur- 
suit of  knowledge.  That  is  to  say,  if  we  can  leave  nothing  to 
posterity,  can  transmit  nothing  to  our  contemporaries  beyond 
that  which  we  ourselves  have  appropriated,  what  difference  is 
there  then  between  us  and  a  book  ?  Hardly  more  than  this,  that 
a  book  preserves  with  accuracy  for  all  future  time  that  which  it 
has  once  taken  to  itself,  while  we  must  frequently  repeat  and  im- 
press that  which  we  have  appropriated,  in  order  that  we  may 
retain  it  permanently.  In  this  connection  two  requisites  make 
themselves  apparent.  Each  is  in  and  for  itself  something  great 
and  fine,  but  the  union  of  the  two  in  an  intellectual  career  unques- 
tionably deserves  especial  recognition.  The  first  requisite  is  this: 
All  that  we  have  learned  we  must  have  in  constant  readiness  for 
immediate  use.  For  you  frequently  find  people  who  have  ac- 
quired much  and  who  remember  many  things,  but  they  are  una- 
ble to  recollect  just  the  things  of  which  they  have  especial  need. 
These  people  indeed  know  many  things,  but  they  have  no  exact 
knowledge  of  anything.  The  second  requisite  is  the  ability  to 
discover  and  produce  something  outside  the  area  of  our  acquisi- 
tion, something  that  we  may  ascribe  to  ourselves  and  put  forward 
as  our  own  spiritual  property.  In  this  direction  two  things 
afford  us  great  aid.  In  the  first  place,  we  must  establish  certain 
rubrics,  for  example,  virtue  and  vice,  life  and  death,  wisdom  and 
ignorance,  benevolence  and  hate,  etc.  They  are  suitable  for  all 
occasions.  We  must  recall  them  frequently,  and,  so  far  as  possi- 
ble, arrange  under  them  everything  that  we  have  learned,  or  at 
least  everything  that  we  are  learning.  Then  by  each  repetition 
of  the  rubrics,  everything  that  we  have  arranged  under  them  will 
be  recalled;  and  finally,  it  will  come  about  that  everything  we 
have  learned  will  be  always  present,  before  our  eyes,  so  to  speak. 
It  will  often  happen,  however,  that  an  example  or  a  sentence 
may  be  brought  under  various  rubrics.  Thus,  for  example,  you 


20  SOURCE- BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

may  place  the  account  of  the  violation  of  L,ucretia  under  the  head 
of  Chastity,  because  it  teaches  us  how  highly  this  should  be  val- 
ued, when  Lucretia  believed  she  must  repurchase  it  at  the  price 
of  her  life.  It  goes  equally  well  under  the  head  of  Beauty,  for  it 
shows  us  how  great  sorrow  this  may  cause,  and  how  greatly  it 
endangers  chastity.  It  may  be  included  also  under  the  rubric 
Death;  for  death  is  no  evil,  since  I^ucretia  preferred  it  to  a  life  of 
shame.  The  account  comes  also  in  the  chapter  of  Lust,  for  it 
shows  how  this  moral  weakness  has  caused  misfortune  and  war. 
It  also  justifies  the  aphorism  that  great  evil  often  produces  great 
good,  for  the  whole  circumstance  brought  to  the  Roman  people 
their  free  constitution.  In  a  similar  manner  the  saying,  est  virtus 
placitis  abstinisse  bonis1  may  be  classified  in  various  ways.  It 
may  be  placed  under  the  head  of  Virtue,  for  it  is  reckoned  a  virtue 
to  abstain  from  the  benefits  that  fall  to  us.  The  rubric  Benefits 
may  also  come  in  requisition,  since  not  all  benefits  are  worthy  of 
effort.  The  idea  of  Continence  may  also  be  considered. 

In  the  second  place,  in  everything  that  we  learn  we  must  care- 
fully consider,  compare  and  thoroughly  elucidate  the  individual 
expressions.  L,et  us  take,  for  example,  a  sentence  from  Virgil: 
Optima  quaeque  dies  miscris  mortalibus  aevi  primafugit.'1  First  of 
all,  the  poet  says  optima ;  how  must  we  value  benefits,  when 
those  which  we  consider  best  of  all  not  only  vanish,  but  hasten 
away  and  torture  us  with  fear  in  the  face  of  a  hopeless  future, 
which  seems  the  more  depressing  when  we  contrast  it  with  condi- 
tions that  have  gone  before  ?  Then  follow  the  words  dies  aem, 
the  day  of  life  ;  how  slight  must  that  be  reckoned,  if  it  is  so  fleet- 
ing, and  the  best  it  contains  is  destroyed  at  its  beginning,  in  its 
bloom,  so  to  speak  !  What  joy  can  there  be  in  life,  when  those 
who  rejoice  in  it  are  called,  not  only  mortals,  but  also  miserable  ? 
Why  should  they  not  be  so  called  ?  Are  not  their  goods  and  their 
very  lives  as  fleeting  as  the  day  itself !  They  are  indeed  made 
subject  to  the  law  of  death.  Finally  come  the  words  prima  fugit. 
We  have  not  come  to  know  the  day  sufficiently  well  through  use 
of  it.  Therefore,  all  that  follows,  no  matter  how  good  in  itself, 
seems  cruel  in  remembrance  of  that  which  is  lost.  The  day  van- 
ishes, is  not  released  or  sent  away.  How  deceptive  and  how  un- 

1  It  is  a  virtue  to  renounce  the  things  that  please  us. 

*  The  happiest  day  of  life  most  quickly  escapes  unhappy  mortals. 


RUDOLPH   AGRICOLA.  21 

certain  is  fortune  !     How  little  is  it  in  our  power  !     How  little 
does  it  depend  upon  our  approbation  ! 

If,  then,  you  will  pursue  such  a  subject  through  all  the  points 
of  dialectic — that  is  to  say,  of  course,  so  far  as  it  responds  to  your 
spiritual  disposition — you  will  find  yourself  in  possession  of  abun- 
dant material  for  presentation,  and  also  for  your  inventive  facul- 
ties to  work  upon.  The  method,  however,  I  cannot  perfectly 
present  in  the  narrow  compass  of  a  letter.  I  have  treated  this 
question  more  at  length  in  the  three  books  De  in-ve-nlione  dialedica. 

Whoever  carries  out  these  instructions  properly  and  carefully, 
especially  when  the  theoretical  development  of  dialectic  is  added 
thereto,  will  obtain  in  a  high  degree  the  ability,  which  will  be 
always  at  his  command,  of  discoursing  over  almost  any  theme 
that  may  be  presented.  It  must  be  assumed,  of  course,  that  the 
theme  concerns  that  department  of  knowledge  with  which  he  is 
acquainted.  It  is  in  this  manner,  it  seems  to  me,  that  the  old- 
masters,  whom  the  Greeks  called  Sophists,  that  is,  wise  men, 
have  developed  their  powers,  and  attained  to  so  great  readiness 
arid  ability  in  discourse,  that  they,  as  is  seen  in  the  case  of  Plato 
and  of  Aristotle,  caused  any  theme  whatsoever  to  be  advanced, 
and  then  discoursed  upon  it  as  extensively  as  was  desired. 

Thus  Gorgias  of  L,eontini,  the  originator  of  so  bold  an  under- 
taking, thus  Prodicus  of  Ceos,  thus  Protagoras  of  Abdera  and 
Hippias  of  Elis  have  first  educated  themselves  and  then  taught 
others.  Moreover,  that  which  I  have  treated  of  in  the  second  in- 
stance will  afford  great  capacity  for  judgment  in  the  appropriation 
of  knowledge,  and  lead  to  new  demonstrations,  to  new  conclusions, 
or  at  least  to  a  new  arrangement  of  those  already  on  hand.  When 
to  this  a  suitable  style  is  added,  eloquence  is  attained  and  the 
way  is  opened  to  the  attainment  of  oratorical  distinction.  But 
enough  of  this  !  Demetrius  of  Phalerus,  in  his  -xtpl  tpweias,1  says 
that  a  too  extensive  letter  is  really  no  letter,  but  a  book  with  a 
formula  of  salutation  at  its  beginning.  Whatever  may  be  thought 
of  this  disturbs  me  not;  for  I  have  set  myself  the  task  of  further- 
ing in  every  possible  way  your  studies,  and  in  the  event  of  my 
failure,  to  show  at  least  that  I  have  made  the  effort.  The  will 
may  indeed  be  of  little  account,  if  measured  by  the  result;  but  in 
the  domain  of  friendship,  where  the  will  stands  for  the  deed,  it 
has  so  great  a  value  that  nothing  greater  can  be  asked  or  given. 
1  Exposition. 


22  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

And  now  to  add  a  word  concerning  my  personal  affairs,  let  me 
tell  you  that  on  the  second  of  May  I  came  to  Heidelberg.  My 
lord,  the  bishop,  received  me  kindly,  and  has  shown  me  nothing 
but  amiability  and  benevolence.  Let  me  tell  you  of  my  folly,  or, 
to  speak  more  accurately,  of  my  stupidity.  I  have  resolved  to 
learn  Hebrew,  as  though  I  had  not  spent  enough  time  and  pains 
on  the  little  Greek  that  I  have  acquired.  I  found  a  teacher,  who 
a  few  years  before  accepted  our  faith.  The  Jews  themselves  gave 
him  credit  for  an  extensive  acquaintance  with  their  learning,  and 
were  accustomed  to  oppose  him  to  our  theologians,  when  they 
were  challenged  to  disputations  on  the  subject  of  religion.  Out 
of  kindness  to  me  the  bishop  undertook  to  care  for  him  at  the 
court.  I  shall  do  the  best  I  can,  and  hope  to  accomplish  some- 
thing. Perhaps  I  shall  arrive  at  this  result,  because  I  am  confi- 
dent of  doing  so.  Joseph  Rink  has  informed  me  of  your  misfor- 
tune. It  came  to  you  from  a  source,  as  I  well  know,  whence  it 
was  most  difficult  to  endure.  I  am  not  certain  whether  I  most 
lament  your  misfortune  or  such  perfidiousness.  At  any  rate  I 
have  sympathized  deeply  with  you  in  your  sorrow,  and  should 
have  given  my  sympathy  expression  in  an  elegy— this  form  of  verse 
being  specially  adapted  for  such  complaint — had  I  been  so  quiet 
and  collected  that  I  might  have  brought  myself  to  poetical  com- 
position. I  beg  of  you,  send  me  something  in  the  way  of  vocal 
music  of  your  own  composition;  but  something  finished,  that  will 
earn  you  praise.  We  have  singers  here  to  whom  I  have  often 
spoken  of  you.  Their  leader  composes  for  nine  and  twelve  voices. 
Of  his  compositions  for  three  or  four  voices  I  have  heard  nothing 
that  especially  pleased  me.  But  my  impression  is  in  no  sense  a 
proper  judgment;  very  likely  his  compositions  are  too  good  for  my 
limited  comprehension.  Farewell,  and  be  assured  of  my  friend- 
ship; give  my  regards  to  the  distinguished  and  learned  magister, 
Ambrosius  Dinter,  our  Nicholas  Haga,  the  elegantly  cultured 
magister,  Jacob  Crabbe,  your  neighbor,  and  especially  to  Joseph 
Rink,  an  amiable  young  man,  who  is  very  devoted  to  you. 

The  verses  which  I  sent  you  I  have  carefully  read  through  a  sec- 
ond time.  I  found  three  or  four  errors  in  the  poem  to  Mother 
Anna;  the  printer  had  transposed  the  letters.  Therefore  I  send 
you  this  manuscript,  in  order  that  you  may  correct  your  copy  by 
it.  See  to  it,  I  beg  of  you,  that  this,  together  with  the  letter,  is 
delivered  to  the  regular  canon  of  St.  Martin's,  Adam  Jordan  in 


JACOB   WIMPHEUNG.  23 

Again  farewell !     Heidelberg,  June  7,  1484.     Send  me 
exact  information  concerning  ycur  affairs  through  this  messenger. 

JACOB  WIMPHELING. 

Jacob  Wimpheling  (1450-1528)  was  born  at  Schlettstadt,  in  the  Upper 
Rhine  country.  His  education  was  acquired  in  the  schools  of  his  native  town 
and  at  the  universities  of  Freiburg,  Erfurt  and  Heidelberg.  Although  for  a 
considerable  time  connected  with  the  university  of  Heidelberg  in  the  capa- 
city of  teacher,  the  most  productive  period  of  Wimpheling's  life  was  spent 
at  Strasburg,  where  his  more  important  works  were  written.  These  works 
were  mostly  psedagogical.  The  Isidoneus,  a  guide  for  the  German  youth; 
the  Adolescentia,  of  a  similar  character,  and  the  Agatharchia,  or  book  for 
the  direction  of  princes,  were  all  of  them  attempts  to  raise  the  standard  oj 
education  in  Germany.  The  Germania,  written  in  1501,  during  Wimphel- 
ing's residence  at  Strasburg,  was  an  appeal  to  that  municipality  to  establish 
an  advanced  system  of  public  schools.  Incidentally,  however,  he  appealed 
to  the  sentiment  of  German  patriotism,  defending  the  thesis  that  Alsace  had 
ever  been  a  German  land  ;  a  contention  which  was  opposed  by  another 
famous  German  humanist,  Thomas  Murner  (1475-1537).  Out  of  this  differ- 
ence of  opinion  arose  one  of  the  most  celebrated  literary  controversies  of 
the  time. 

Wimpheling's  interest  in  educational  matters  won  for  him  the  distin- 
Suished  title  of  the  "Schoolmaster  of  Germany."  His  writings  obtained  a 
wide  circulation  and  did  much  to  determine  the  character  of  German  educa- 
tion for  two  centuries.  Apart  from  this  special  work,  Wimpheling  was  a 
typical  humanist  of  the  earlier  type,  selecting  his  material  with  reference  to 
its  value  for  purposes  of  Christian  culture,  and  possessing  all  the  homely  and 
substantial  virtues  of  his  race.  He  valued  the  new  learning  chiefly  for  its 
adaptability  to  the  purposes  of  practical  life,  and  the  methods  he  advocated 
looked  to  the  production  of  able  and  conscientious  men  rather  than  accom- 
plished scholars. 

EXTRACTS   FROM  THE  IsidonCUS. 

Chapter  25 :     The  Study  of  Greek. 

In  the  matter  of  Greek  I  am  not  competent  to  render  judgment 
or  give  an  estimate,  since  in  the  best  years  of  my  youth  I  had  no 
teacher  in  this  branch.  If  I  wished  to  follow  the  example  of 
Marcus  Cato,  and  learn  it  in  my  mature  years,  there  would  be  no 
lack  of  excellent  teachers  in  Germany.  Thus  Rudolph  Agricola 
has  learned  and  taught  Greek.  Johannes  Camerarius  Dalberg, 
Bishop  of  Worms,  devotes  himself  with  ardor  to  the  study  of 
Greek — he  who  is  the  ornament  of  Germany,  the  glory  of  his  gen- 

Sammlung  der  bedeutendsten  padagogischen  Schriften.  Band  13.  Pader- 
born,  1892. 


24  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE   GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

eration,  the  especial  pride  of  Duke  Philip  of  Bavaria,  the  crown  of 
bishops — he  whom,  on  account  of  his  astonishing  erudition,  I  re- 
gard as  born  for  something  even  more  distinguished.  With  no 
slight  ardor  does  Johannes  Trithemius,  Sponheim's  pious  abbot, 
devote  himself  to  the  study  of  Greek.  Among  those  who  at  the 
present  time  are  competent  to  teach  Greek  is  also  Johannes  Cap- 
nion,  or  as  he  is  commonly  called,  Reuchlin  of  Pforzheim,  and  the 
poet  laureate,  Conrad  Celtes.  It  is,  moreover,  well  known  that 
Augustine  in  his  second  book  of  Christian  Doctrine  advances  the 
opinion  that  for  those  who  speak  Latin  a  knowledge  of  Greek  is 
necessary  for  the  understanding  of  Holy  Writ.  It  is  also  known 
that  teachers  out  of  their  ignorance  of  this  tongue  have  commu- 
nicated much  of  error  to  their  pupils.  For  example,  they  were  of 
the  belief  that  the  name  of  Christ,  which  was  written  by  our  an- 
cestors, who  for  the  most  part  knew  Greek,  with  three  Greek 
letters,  XPC,  had  been  incorrectly  indicated  with  three  Latin  let- 
ters, although  it  is  beyond  doubt  that  the  first  of  these  three  let- 
ters indicated  to  the  Greeks  not  "  x,"  but  "  ch;"  that  the  second 
stood  not  for  "p"  but  for  "r,"  while  by  the  third  not  "  c,"  but 
"  s  "  was  meant. 

Chapter  26 :     The  Aim  of  Grammatical  Instruction. 

Contemplate,  O  teachers,  the  aim  of  grammatical  instruction  ! 
Bear  in  mind  that  this  instruction  is  to  enable  the  pupil  to  speak 
Latin  correctly  and  agreeably  on  all  occasions,  to  understand  it 
perfectly  and  to  be  able  to  apply  it  to  branches  of  knowledge  that 
promise  the  greater  rewards.  This  is  the  object,  this  the  aim,  this 
the  sum  and  substance  of  your  instruction.  But  when  it  is  pos- 
sible for  any  one  to  reach  this  goal  with  small  pains  and  slight  ex- 
ertion, is  he  not  foolish  to  wander  here  and  there  through  by-wa}7s 
and  all  sorts  of  turns  and  twistings  at  the  expense  of  greater  effort  ? 
But  many  remain  obstinate  in  their  errors  and  close  their  ears 
even  to  the  plain  truth.  Although  a  straight  path  is  offered  to 
them  for  the  study  of  grammar,  yet  they  pursue  a  crooked  way, 
which  brings  them  from  the  direct  route;  they  abandon  the  level 
road,  in  order  to  forge  ahead  over  a  way  full  of  inequalities  ;  they 
give  up  the  short  road,  in  order  to  deceive  their  uninstructed 
youth  with  meaningless  and  windy  discourses,  together  with  great 
loss  of  time  and  interruption  of  mental  development ;  to  weaken 
and  unnerve  them.  They  remain  themselves,  together  with  their 


JACOB   WIMPHELING.  25 

pupils,  blind  and  lame,  for  their  ignorance  in  respect  to  the  ele- 
ments of  grammatical  instruction  permits  them  to  grope  about  in 
darkness.  He  will  never  attain  to  the  object  of  grammar,  who 
during  his  entire  youth  has  busied  himself  with  his  Alexander,1 
with  the  meaning  of  words,  with  figures  and  examples,  all  of 
which  is  superfluous,  and  at  the  end  can  neither  thoroughly  grasp 
nor  understand  the  smallest  preface  of  Jerome,  nor  any  homily  of 
the  fathers,  nor  anything  whatsoever  that  is  agreeably  written 
with  all  the  grammar  which  he  is  supposed  to  have  learned. 

Therefore  it  is  for  you,  who  are  placed  at  the  head  of  the  public 
schools,  to  conduct  your  pupils  by  the  nearest  possible  way  to  an 
understanding  and  a  knowledge  of  the  Latin  tongue.  Leave  un- 
touched the  old  established  explanations,  which  are  full  of  ab- 
surdities, and  above  all  such  as  are  calculated  to  cause  one  to 
forget  rather  than  to  learn,  in  which  there  is  nothing  either 
graceful  or  dignified,  and  which,  moreover,  are  useless  either  for 
the  acquisition  or  the  comprehension  of  Latin. 

The  Latin  language  I  regard  as  the  noblest  of  tongues;  it  can 
be  learned  and  understood  by  the  people  of  every  nation;  it  makes 
the  noble  born  still  nobler;  one  who  knows  it  not  is  thereby  ren- 
dered unworthy  of  the  Roman  imperial  crown;  in  it  have  count- 
less things  been  written,  which  can  scarcely  be  translated  into 
the  German  or  any  popular  speech;  he  who  despises  it  shows 
himself  unworthy  of  it;  he  who  refuses  to  become  a  Latinist,  re- 
mains forever  a  wild  beast  and  a  two-legged  donkey.  Our 
princes  and  their  trusted  courtiers  and  flatterers — not  to  call 
them  "worshippers,"  with  Augustine— as  despisers  of  the  Latin 
language  and  literature,  might  be  called  barbarians  by  foreign- 
ers; and  such  in  truth  they  are.  But  you,  admirable  youths,  love 
this  tongue;  no  other  language  is  nobler,  more  graceful  and  more 
expressive;  no  other  language  surpasses  it  in  abundance  and 
splendor  of  high  and  enlightened  thought. 

EXTRACTS   FROM   THE   AdoleSCCIltia. 

Chapter  I.     The  Choice  of  Books. 

If  I  did  not  fear  to  be  accused  by  others  of  presumption,  I 
should  advise  teachers  to  observe,  in  the  introduction  of  the 

JThe  Doctrinale  puerorum  of  Alexander  de  Villa  Dei,  written  1209  (1199), 
a  famous  Latin  grammar,  which  came  into  extensive  use  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
With  singular  perversity  the  text  was  tortured  into  hexameter  verse. 


26  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

grammar,  the  orderly  succession  and  the  principles  which  I  have 
presented  in  my  "  Isidoneus."  I  permit  myself  to  hope  that 
immediately  after  the  instruction  in  the  alphabet  they  will  put 
into  your  hands  the  Donat,1  to  which  I  have  nothing  to  add,  and 
from  which  I  have  little  to  take  away.  Then  will  they  make  you 
acquainted  with  the  varieties  and  declensions  of  nouns  and  verbs, 
with  the  easier  forms  of  sentences  and  terminations  according  to 
Sulpicius,2  or  some  other  good  exercise  book  for  boys.  Then 
they  will  place  before  you  Basil  the  Great*  and  the  letter  of 
^neas  Silvius  to  King  L,adislaus.*  After  these  have  been  com- 
pleted, this  book  of  mine  may,  I  think,  without  detriment,  be 
placed  in  your  hands,  by  means  of  which  you  may  become  ac- 
quainted with  Cicero,  Sallust,  Seneca,  Tranquillus  and  Valerius 
Maximus.  In  this  manner  you  will  be  able  more  easily  to  attain 
to  an  understanding  of  the  remaining  historical  works;  among 
others  to  an  understanding  of  Christian  history,  of  the  noble 
deeds  of  the  Germans,  especially  in  the  account  of  Otto  of  Frei- 
singen,  in  whom  your  noble  father,  who  possesses  a  carefully  re- 
vised and  perfect  edition  of  this  work,  takes  great  delight. 

When  you  will  read  something  of  a  more  sprightly  character,  to 
cheer  you  up  or  for  amusement,  turn  to  Luciau.  Whenever  any 
sad  mischance  has  shaken  you,  take  your  flight  to  Francesco 
Petrarca,  who  for  all  the  turns  of  fortune,  be  they  good  or  ill,  has 
ever  a  perfect  remedy  and  in  a  tasteful  form,  as  well  against  arro- 
gance and  presumption  as  against  discouragement  and  sadness. 
If,  however,  you  love  brevity,  take  up  the  equally  interesting  and 
instructive  book  of  Baptista  Mantuanus,  De  patientia.  If  you 
take  pleasure  in  learning  of  the  tasks  and  duties  of  an  upright 
prince  or  count,  or  if  for  the  relief  and  unburdening  of  your  con- 
science you  will  give  to  God  an  account  of  the  days  of  your  life, 
then  you  may  peruse  my  Agatharchia. 

1  Or  Donatus;  the  ars grammatica  of  Aelius  Donatus  (IV  century  A.  D.). 
This  book,  in  two  forms,  the  ars  minor  and.  the  ars  major,  came  into  general 
use  as  an  elementary  Latin  grammar  after  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century. 

'Johannes  Sulpicius  Verulanus  (Giovanni  Sulpicio  of  Veroli),  a  humanist 
of  the  XV.  century;  taught  at  Rome,  and  composed  works  upon  grammar. 
*St.  Basil  (329-379),  Archbishop  of  Csesarea  in  Cappadocia. 
*  Vide  Source-Book  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  pp.  55-63. 


JACOB   WIMPHELING.  27 

Chapter  III.     Boys  of  noble  birth  moie  than  others  should  be  instructed  in 
the  humanities. 

If  it  is  the  duty  of  all  parents  to  afford  a  good  education  to  their 
children,  it  is  of  especial  importance  that  those  boys  who  later  in 
life  are  to  occupy  prominent  positions,  and  whose  words  and  deeds 
may  not  lie  in  obscurity,  should  be  instructed  in  the  higher 
branches  of  learning,  so  that  they  may  be  worthy  of  their  fortune, 
their  dignity  and  their  prominence.  It  is  a  reasonable  condition, 
that  those  who  demand  for  themselves  the  highest  should  also 
produce  the  highest.  There  is  no  safer  nor  more  enduring  basis 
for  dominion  than  that  those  who  rule  should  be  considered  most 
worthy  of  their  lordship. 

Chapter  IV.     Learning  and  vit  tue  are  more  to  be  esteemed  than  all  else. 

Every  one  should  strive  for  learning  and  virtue,  which  alone 
confer  nobility.  These  are  to  be  striven  for  above  all  other  things 
to  which  the  human  mind  directs  itself.  For  money,  honor  and 
pleasure  are  changing  and  transitory.  The  possession  and  fruits 
of  virtue  on  the  contrary  are  unassailable  and  permanent,  and 
make  their  possessor  immortal  and  happy.  The  youth,  there- 
fore, especially  when  he  comes  of  distinguished  parents,  should  be 
reminded  with  especial  emphasis,  that  he  may  value  the  soul's 
advantage  and  not  the  gifts  of  fortune  and  physical  accomplish- 
ments. Each  day  he  should  exert  himself,  in  order  that  he  may 
not  become  an  awkward,  lazy,  stupid,  foppish,  wanton  fellow, 
as  in  our  day  most  of  the  noble-born  are,  but  that  he  shall  be  in- 
telligent and  educated;  that  he  may  be  well  instructed  from  his 
youth  and  not  ignorant  of  the  humanities;  that  he  shall  apply 
himself  to  the  reading  of  Holy  Writ;  that  he  may  be  well-bred, 
just,  gentle  and  pious;  that  he  may  be  no  friend  of  wastlings  and 
buffoons,  or  of  such  as  find  their  joy  in  biting  calumny,  or  of  such 
as  in  any  way  outrage  good  breeding;  in  order  that  he  may  be 
rather  a  friend  of  clever  and  cultured  men. 

Chapter  V.  A  boy's  disposition  has  to  be  determined  at  the  start. 
In  the  first  place,  each  one  has  to  give  proof  of  his  talents  and 
capacity.  Since  on  account  of  their  age  this  cannot  be  adequately 
determined  in  the  case  of  boys,  it  will  be  necessary  for  their 
parents  or  the  teachers  to  whom  the  youths  have  been  entrusted, 
to  observe  carefully  the  general  direction  of  their  mind,  and  talents, 
according  to  their  natural  dispositions.  Their  studies  should  then 


28  SOURCE-BOOK   OF   THE   GERMAN    RENAISSANCE. 

be  directed  into  this  same  direction,  and  with  these  studies  they 
should  occupy  themselves  exclusively. 

Chapter  VII.     The  sons  of  the  great  shall  not  apply  themselves  exclusively 
to  the  chase. 

What  special  signification  has  the  art  of  the  chase— if  indeed 
this  employment  deserves  to  be  called  an  art — for  a  king  or  for  a 
noble  prince,  that  for  it  he  despises  and  neglects  all  other  skilled 
labors  and  exercises  of  the  body  ?  Is  it  not  true  that  an  ordinary 
man  of  base  extraction,  devoid  of  all  distinction,  of  all  cleverness 
and  aptitude,  may  be  quite  the  equal  of  a  prince  in  the  exercise 
of  the  chase  ?  The  worst  gallows-bird,  empty  of  all  ability,  of  all 
cleverness,  of  all  fear  of  the  Lord,  is  qualified  to  apply  himself  to 
this  "delight."  He  too  may  carry  the  horn  which  hangs  about 
his  neck;  he  too  may  jump  about  like  mad,  and  race  his  horse 
here  and  there  through  field  and  forest,  and  fill  the  air  with  cries; 
he  too  in  peril  of  life  and  health  may  follow  the  game  and  shoot 
it  with  bow  or  gun  or  run  it  down  with  hunting-spear. 

For  a  prince,  however,  that  would  be  a  more  laudable  art,  in 
which  a  man  of  common  birth  and  low  intelligence  could  not 
equal  him.  Therefore  he  shall  apply  himself  to  use  with  ease  the 
noblest  of  tongues  in  reading  and  in  speaking  and  particularly  in 
oral  intercourse  with  foreigners;  he  shall  consider  it  furthermore 
his  duty  to  learn  the  customs  of  the  ancients  and  the  manners  of 
foreign  lands ;  he  shall  make  himself  acquainted  with  historical 
statements  and  relations,  such  as  serve  for  agreeable  and  witty 
entertainment  or  for  elevating  instruction;  then  too,  the  holy  coun- 
cils, which  attend  to  the  interests  of  the  individual  and  of  the 
state,  as  well  as  to  the  public  and  civic  welfare,  should  not  be  un- 
familiar to  him;  in  the  range  of  his  knowledge  he  should  include 
the  arts  of  peace  and  war,  as  well  as  the  proper  training  of  chil- 
dren, and  law  and  equity,  which  may  serve  for  the  defence  of  just- 
ice and  the  maintenance  of  right.  Then  will  he  rise  above  his 
subjects;  then  will  he  be  distinguished  from  them  in  his  actions; 
then  will  he  draw  upon  himself  beyond  a  doubt  the  love  and  ven- 
eration of  his  people. 

Chapter  VIII.     The  indications  of  good  natural  gifts. 
One  indication  of  ability  and  of  a  spirit  worthy  of  a  free  man  is 
shown   in   the   striving   after   praise   and   the  desire  for  honor. 


JACOB   WIMPHELING.  29 

Hence  arises  the  contest  for  honor  and  distinction.  It  is  another 
token,  when  great  things  are  dared  for  praise  and  honor.  A 
third  token  betrays  itself  in  the  readiness  for  good  deeds,  in  the 
disinclination  for  idleness  and  in  the  desire  always  to  accomplish 
something  of  importance.  A  fourth  is  shown  in  a  dread  of  threats 
and  blows,  and  a  still  greater  dread  of  dishonor  and  shame. 
Hence  arises  that  feeling  of  modesty  and  awe,  which  is  of 'the 
highest  value  at  this  time  of  life.  It  is  also  a  good  indication 
when  boys  blush  on  being  reproved,  and  when  they  mend  their 
ways  after  having  been  chastised.  A  fifth  sign  is  when  they  love 
their  teachers  and  bear  neither  dislike  nor  hatred  against  them  or 
their  discipline.  A  sixth  sign  is  this:  that  children  listen  will- 
ingly to  their  parents  and  are  not  deaf  to  their  well-meant  admo- 
nitions; for  youth  is  inclined  to  sin,  and  when  it  is  not  held  in 
bounds  by  the  example  and  counsel  of  older  people,  it  often  seeks 
in  haste  the  road  to  destruction. 

Chapter  XL  VI.     The  fifteenth  rule  forbids  carousing. 

The  youth  shall  avoid  most  carefully  immoderate  use  of  wine 
and  intoxication.  Immoderate  use  of  wine  injures  the  health, 
and  seriously  limits  the  use  of  reason;  it  arouses  strife  and  war 
and  excites  evil  desires.  For  this  reason  the  Lacedaemonians 
permitted  drunken  slaves  to  come  before  them  at  their  meals,  not 
that  they  might  enjoy  their  disgusting  conversation  or  their  filthy 
actions — for  it  is  only  a  worthless  man  who  takes  pleasure  in  the 
faults  or  in  the  vices  of  others — but  that  they  might  place  before 
their  young  sons  a  living  example  of  the  shamefulness  of  intoxi- 
cation. Was  there  ever  an  evil  greater  than  this  infamy  ?  If  then 
the  disfigurement  of  the  body  is  so  disgusting,  how  great  is  to  be 
regarded  the  deformity  and  repulsiveness  of  the  soul  disfigured 
with  this  vice?  Whoever  possesses  the  sense  of  shame  that 
deters  him  from  that  so-called  pleasure  of  eating  and  drinking, 
which  man  has  in  common  with  swine  and  donkeys,  he  may  con- 
sider himself  fortunate.  Socrates  indeed  said  that  many  men 
lived  in  order  to  eat  and  drink;  he,  however,  ate  and  drank  in 
order  to  live. 

A  youth,  therefore,  who  desires  to  be  accounted  wise,  must 
never  smell  of  wine;  he  flees  drunkenness  as  he  would  poison;  he 
follows  not  the  seductions  of  the  palate,  for  a  full  stomach  does 
not  sharpen  the  senses.  A  pleasure-seeking  and  immoderate 


30  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

youth  bequeaths  to  age  an  exhausted  body.  The  youth  must 
know  that  human  nature  is  content  with  little,  so  far  as  needs  are 
concerned;  in  respect  to  pleasure,  however,  nothing  is  able  to 
satisfy  it.  He  should  know,  finally,  that  food,  taken  in  modera- 
tion, is  conducive  to  health;  but  that  the  contrary  is  the  case 
when  taken  in  excess.  Thus  saith  John  Chrysostom :  ' '  Nothing 
is  so  pleasing  as  well-prepared  and  well-cooked  food;  nothing 
more  conducive  to  health;  nothing  so  effectually  sharpens  the 
wits;  nothing  drives  away  an  indisposition  so  quickly  as  a  mod- 
erate refreshment.  An  excess,  however,  produces  sickness  and 
disorders,  and  calls  forth  discord.  The  effects  of  hunger  are 
equally  produced,  and  even  to  a  greater  degree  and  with  more 
disastrous  consequences  by  immoderate  indulgence;  for  hunger 
carries  a  man  off  in  a  few  days,  and  delivers  him  from  the  pains 
of  this  life.  Immoderation  in  food  and  drink  destroys  the  human 
body  and  causes  it  to  wither  and  saps  its  strength  through  illness, 
and  then  finally  takes  it  hence  in  painful  death."  Jerome  held 
this  view,  and  appealed  to  the  physician  Hippocrates  and  his  ex- 
positor, Galen. 

Ivet  the  German  youth  accustom  himself,  therefore,  to  be  mod- 
erate and  careful  with  his  food  and  drink,  so  that  the  opinion  of 
foreigners  may  not  be  justly  applied  to  him,  when  they  say,  with 
injustice,  and  without  ever  giving  thought  to  their  own  short- 
comings, that  all  Germans  are  given  to  intoxication  and  drunken- 
ness. Young  men  may  believe  me  when  I  say  that  I  have  known 
many  a  young  man  who  has  wasted  his  patrimony  in  debauchery 
and  riotous  living,  and  finally  has  seen  himself  compelled  in  mis- 
ery either  to  beg  his  bread  in  shame  and  degradation  or  to  end 
his  life  in  the  poorhouse. 

Chapter  XL  VII.  The  sixteenth  rule  forbids  curling  the  hair. 
The  young  man  shall  turn  his  thoughts  to  neatness,  but  not  to 
such  a  degree  that  it  may  be  too  evident  or  seem  labored;  he  shall 
avoid  negligence,  which  betrays  a  rustic  mind  and  lack  of  culture. 
In  the  same  way  he  shall  look  to  his  attire,  and  in  this  matter,  as 
in  most  others,  the  golden  mean  is  to  be  preferred.  If  in  Holy 
Writ  long  hair  is  forbidden  to  man  and  youth,  as  being  conducive 
to  dishonor,  how  much  heavier  an  offence  is  it  then,  not  only  to 
roll  up  and  curl  the  hair,  which  naturally  grows  smooth  and 
straight  and  is  adorned  with  pleasing  colors,  but  also  to  moisten 


JACOB   WIMPHEUNG.  31 

and  dye  it  with  artificial  color.  A  well-mannered  and  modest 
youth  will  hold  himself  aloof  from  such  deceit  and  feminine  prac- 
tices; for  nothing  was  so  certain  a  sign  of  the  worst  of  all  vices  to 
the  ancients  as  this  wicked  and  shamelul  custom  of  curling  the 
hair.  Thus  Plautus  says  of  a  certain  one:  ' '  Thou  voluptuary  with 
the  curly  hair !"  Curling  the  hair  makes  a  woman  of  a  man  ;  it 
softens  the  youth;  it  produces  an  abundance  of  vermin;  it  strives 
in  vain  for  that  which  nature  has  forbidden  ;  it  is  a  sign  of  arro- 
gance and  bluster ;  it  betrays  epicureanism  and  sensuality;  it  of- 
fends God  the  Lord  and  frightens  away  the  guardian  angel ;  it 
makes  the  head  heavy  and  affects  the  brain;  it  weakens  the  mem- 
ory and  deforms  the  countenance;  it  gives  old  age  a  horrid,  mangy 
look;  it  is  evidence  of  great  simpleness.  Is  there  anything  more 
absurd  than  to  hold  the  hair  in  estimation  above  the  head ;  than 
to  care  more  for  the  color  of  the  hair  than  for  sprightliness  of 
mind,  as  the  brave  and  honest  poet  Diether  has  said  with  playful 
grace  to  your  distinguished  father.  Finally,  crimping  the  hair 
shuts  one  out  from  the  kingdom  of  Heaven;  for  how  will  God,  the 
best  and  highest  One  of  all,  deem  those  worthy  of  the  kingdom  of 
the  blest  who,  dissatisfied  with  the  form,  with  the  countenance, 
with  the  hair  which  he  has  given  them,  are  not  ashamed  to  wear 
false  hair,  to  slight  and  despise  that  divine  gift,  and  to  seek 
strange  gifts.  On  the  last  day  the  Judge  will  be  able  to  confront 
those  who  crimp  and  curl  their  hair  with  these  words  :  "I  have 
not  created  this  man;  I  have  not  given  him  this  countenance;  this 
is  not  the  hair  which  I  gave  him  at  birth."  Augustine  bears  us 
witness  with  these  words:  <(  God  is  against  the  arrogant  and  those 
that  curl  their  hair." 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  Agatharchia. 

Chapter  XIV.  The  Support  and  Direction  of  High  Schools. 
It  should  be  the  care  and  effort  of  a  prince,  that  scientific 
studies  should  flourish  in  his  principality  and  that  many  wise 
and  energetic  men  should  distinguish  themselves  therein.  In 
this  matter  you  will  do  well  to  imitate  your  father.  It  was  his 
earnest  desire,  that  the  high  school  at  Heidelberg  should  advance 
in  all  excellent  sciences,  and  particularly  in  the  humanistic 
studies,  which  before  all  are  indispensable  to  young  men,  and 
of  value  in  the  still  more  important  exercise  of  the  sacred  law; 
for  it  is  not  sufficient  that  this  or  the  other  branch  of  learning 


32  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

should  enjoy  especial  prosperity  and  consideration  at  the  high 
school.  It  is  necessary  that  suitable  arrangements  should  be 
made  for  each  branch  of  learning,  through  the  whole  range  of 
the  higher  arts  and  sciences.  For  in  this  wise  such  institutions 
of  learning  show  themselves  worthy  of  the  name  of  "University."1 
Thus  your  father  acted  well  and  advisedly,  when  he  founded  a 
college  for  jurisprudence.  For  it  is  better  that  teachers  and 
pupils  should  dwell  together,  than  that  the  latter  should  be 
separated  and  scattered  hither  and  thither  in  nooks  and  corners 
without  supervision. 

Chapter  XV.     The  Desirability  of  having  suitable  Pastors  and  Teachers. 

A  prince  shall  nominate  or  appoint  for  his  pastors  and  for  the 
direction  of  his  scholars,  able,  learned  and  cultured  men,  who  are 
qualified  to  give  instruction.  And  although  in  other  cases 
princes  are  accustomed  to  state  their  desires  rather  violently — as 
some  one  has  said  :  "  When  princes  ask,  it  is  a  specially  emphatic 
form  of  command,"  or  "The  mighty  put  their  requests  with  a 
drawn  sword  " — yet  in  these  two  instances,  that  is  to  say,  in  the 
matter  of  the  cure  of  souls  and  the  education  of  children,  the 
prince  shall  not  advance  any  one  he  chooses  to  an  academic  stand- 
ard ;  he  shall  not  personally  advance  the  claims  of  his  favorite 
without  due  consideration ;  he  shall  not  confide  to  an  inexperi- 
enced man  a  responsible  position  as  pastor,  simply  because  his 
father  understood  his  business  or  his  service  as  cook,  huntsman, 
fowler  or  zither- player,  to  the  injury  of  the  man's  own  soul  and 
to  the  detriment  of  the  prince  himself.  A  prince  will  have  to 
give  an  account  of  all  these  things.  It  would  be  more  to  the  pur- 
pose to  bestow  offices  of  this  sort  upon  men  of  distinction,  mature 
and  blameless  men,  who  have  acquired  a  fund  of  human  experi- 
ence, who  are  able  to  awaken  confidence,  who  are  thoughtful  of 
the  welfare  of  their  native  land,  who  love  God  and  the  salvation 
of  souls  more  than  all  other  things,  who  allow  themselves  to  be 
directed  by  nothing,  neither  by  the  arrangements  of  this  or  that 
one,  nor  by  the  demands  of  the  faculty  or  the  bursary,  but  simply 
and  exclusively  look  to  the  morality,  the  intellectual  advance- 
ment, the  eloquence  and  the  progress  of  those  who  are  entrusted 
to  their  care.  It  is  also  not  to  be  permitted  that  at  a  high  school 

1  Academia  Universitatum. 


JACOB   WIMPHEUNG.  33 

one  faculty  should  subordinate,  encroach  upon  or  oppress  another. 
The  prosperity  of  the  high  school  and  due  respect  for  the  founder 
demand  rather,  that  the  faculty  which  was  first  established 
should  not  give  way;  reason  suggests  that  equilibrium  should  be 
preserved;  equal  labor  and  equal  remuneration,  and  in  a  similar 
way,  equal  consideration  on  the  part  of  those  whose  privilege  it 
is  to  bestow  rewards  and  favors.  Especially  are  those  self- 
seeking  souls  to  be  kept  at  a  distance  who  do  not  hesitate,  for 
their  own  advantage  and  with  unseemly  pertinacity  in  their  own 
behalf,  to  undermine  the  whole  academic  structure,  to  violate 
every  approved  regulation,  to  destroy  the  sacred  harmony  and 
break  down  a  just  distribution  of  stipends. 

Chapter  XVII.     The  Training  of  Princely  Children. 

A  prince  should  see  to  it,  that  his  children  are  well  educated 
and  well  trained,  and  that  from  their  earliest  years  they  are 
directed  toward  humanistic  studies.  They  should  be  able  also 
to  use  the  L,atin  language  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  This  will 
redound  to  their  honor  in  the  assemblies  of  princes,  in  their 
intercourse  with  ecclesiastical  dignitaries,  in  the  reception  of 
candinals  or  in  their  intercourse  with  foreigners.  Julius  and 
Augustus,  Marcus  Cato,  King  Robert  of  Sicily,  Constantine, 
Charles  the  Great  and  other  princes  and  their  sons  have  neither 
impaired  the  honor  of  their  names  in  any  way  through  such 
study,  nor  have  they  discovered  therein  any  diminution  of  their 
martial  glory.  What  the  characteristics  of  a  good  teacher  are, 
I  have  already  indicated  in  my  hidoneus.  As  to  how  they 
should  bring  up  boys,  they  may  peruse  the  letter  of  Aeneas 
Silvius  to  Ladislas.1  In  the  training  of  older  pupils  they  should 
govern  themselves  by  Holy  Writ  and  the  writings  of  the  heathen. 
They  may  find  inspiration  also  in  the  treatise  which  John  Gerson 
addressed  to  the  confessor  of  Charles  VII.  King  of  France;  above 
all  they  should  not  neglect  the  Summa  of  John  Gallensis.1 

Chapter  XXII.    Precautions  against  the  Artificial  Raising  of  Prices. 

A  prince  should  take  care  that  well-filled  granaries  are  at  hand 
for  the  benefit  of  his  people,  so  that  an  occasional  famine  may  be 

1  Cf.  Source-Book  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  p.  55,  et  seq. 

'English  Franciscan  monk.  Taught  at  University  of  Paris  in  1279.  Hi3 
Summa  Collationum  -was  a  book  of  aphorisms. 

3 


34 


SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN    RENAISSANCE. 


mitigated  by  means  of  the  surplus  of  foregoing  years.  He  shall 
also  take  precautions,  so  that  when,  to  punish  us  for  our  sins, 
God  in  his  wisdom  limits  the  increase  of  fruits  or  sends  destruct- 
ive storms  upon  us,  prices  shall  not  rise  out  of  reach  through  the 
insatiable  avarice  of  priests  or  citizens.  He  shall  see  that  just 
prices  are  made,  so  that  the  scarcity  may  be  more  endurable  for 
the  poor;  for  there  are  such  as  collect  and  heap  together  the  har- 
vests of  several  years,  and  hold  them  back  purposely,  in  order 
that  they  may  sell  these  products  at  advanced  prices.  People  of 
this  kind  sometimes  bring  about  an  advance  in  prices  merely  by 
their  avarice.  If  your  father  Philip  had  not  broken  this  up  and 
forbidden,  in  years  past,  that  the  price  of  a  bushel  of  wheat  should 
exceed  16  solidi,1  the  price  of  the  same  would  have  risen  to  a  pound 
denarii  or  nearly  to  two  pounds  and  this  merely  through  the  wan- 
toness  of  avaricious  people,  who  cared  not  whether  poor  people 
suffered  hunger  or  even  died  of  hunger,  if  they  themselves  could 
get  rich.  I  speak  from  experience. 

Chapter  XXIII.     To  Prevent  the  Exportation  of  Gold  and  Silver. 

A  prince  shall  take  precautions,  in  so  far  as  it  is  possible  with- 
out offense  toward  God,  that  neither  gold  nor  silver  shall  be  taken 
out  of  his  territory  into  foreign  lands,  unless  a  complete  equivalent 
therefor  is  returned.  I  do  not  know  why  it  is  that  other  people 
have  contracted  the  habit  of  draining  the  German  nation  dry, 
while  no  gain  comes  to  us  from  foreign  lands.  The  Roman  an- 
nates,  the  spices  and  fabrics  of  Venice,  the  Italian  rectorates,  the 
French  jugglers  and  players,  the  regular  orders,  their  hospitals 
and  settlements  carry  enormous  sums  out  of  our  lands.  Our  peo- 
ple, however,  have  only  one  order  founded  for  the  Germans,  and 
this  has  obtained  in  all  France  not  one  cloister,  nor  a  single  set- 
tlement, nor  any  kind  of  income  whatsoever.  The  French,  on 
the  contrary,  have  in  our  midst  the  Antonines,2  the  Valentinians, 
the  Benedictines  and  many  others;  not  to  speak  of  the  Cistercians 
and  Praemonstratensians.  So  great  is  either  the  simplicity  or  the 
generosity  of  the  Germans. 

1  According  to  the  Carolingian  coinage  regulations  the  pound  silver  was 
divided  into  20  solidi  or  into  240  denarii. 

Established  1095.  Under  Boniface  VIII,  changed  to  a  congregation  of 
Augustinians:  1774  united  with  the  order  of  Malta;  dissolved  in  the  revolu- 
tionary period. 


JCHANN   REUCHLIN.  35 

JOHANN  REUCHLIN. 

Johann  Reuchlin  (1455-1522)  is,  next  to  Desiderius  Erasmus,  the  most 
important  character  in  the  German  Renaissance.  A  student  at  many  uni- 
versities in  Germany,  France  and  Italy,  Reuchlin  became  licentiate  in  law 
at  Poitiers  (1481),  and  returning  to  Wiirtemberg,  was  appointed  to  a  judicial 
position  under  the  government  of  that  state.  His  professional  duties  left 
much  time  for  study,  and  he  became  so  proficient  in  the  languages  of  an- 
tiquity, that  he  was  called  the  "  three-tongued  wonder  of  Germany."  The 
Hebrew  text-books  which  he  produced  first  gave  an  opportunity  in  Germany 
for  the  study  of  that  language  and  literature. 

Various  diplomatic  missions  led  Reuchlin  again  to  Italy,  where  he  came 
in  contact  with  Pico  della  Mirandola,  whose  influence  gave  a  mystical  turn 
to  Reuchlin's  philosophical  writings  a  tendency  which  had  little  effect  upon 
his  contemporaries  or  upon  posterity.  As  a  teacher,  however,  as  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  widest  culture  of  his  time,  and  as  a  source  of  inspiration 
toward  intellectual  effort,  Reuchlin  exercised  great  influence  upon  the 
scholars  of  his  time.  As  a  humanist,  he  felt  little  sympathy  with  Luther's 
schismatic  attitude,  but  unwittingly  he  furnished  the  Protestant  move- 
ment with  one  of  its  ablest  leaders,  in  the  person  of  his  nephew,  Melanch- 
thon,  for  whom  he  secured  the  chair  of  Greek  at  the  university  of  Wit- 
tenberg. 

Reuchlin's  eventual  fame  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  he  became,  much 
against  his  will,  the  central  point  about  which  raged  a  bitter  literary  con- 
troversy, which  occupied  the  attention  of  the  world  of  letters  in  the  decade 
just  preceding  Luther's  appearance.1 

BETTER  TO  JOHANN  AMMERBACH.* 

To  the  prudent,  honorable  and  wise  gentleman,  my  dear  sir  and  good  friend, 
Master  Johann  Ammerbac'i,  citizen  and  publisher  at  Basel. 

My  friendly  and  willing  service  is  at  all  times  at  your  disposal, 
dear  master  Hans,  sir  and  friend.  I  have  received  your  letter, 
dated  Basel,  August  2d,  and  have  also  learned  of  the  complaints 
you  have  made  concerning  the  Jerome  and  my  books 3  as  well. 
I  should  be  very  glad  if  everything  could  happen  in  accordance 
with  your  wish  and  approbation,  and  where  it  does  not  so  come 
to  pass,  I  am  truly  sorry;  but  nevertheless  the  fault  in  both 
instances  is  not  mine.  I  have  done  everything  that  my  knowl- 
edge, ability  and  duty  indicated.  I  send  you  the  lertia  pars 
epistolarum  :  I  have  attended  to  it  carefully,  so  far  as  the  Greek 

'See  below,  "Letters  of  Obscure  Men." 

'Johann  Reuchlin's  Briefwechsel,  von  L.  Geiger.    Litt.  Verein,  Stuttgart, 
1875- 
*The  Ruditnenta  hebraica. 


36  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

and  Hebrew  are  concerned.  The  Latin  I  have  not  disturbed,  as 
indeed  throughout  the  whole  of  Jerome.  This  you  have  not 
asked  me  to  do,  and  you  will  find  enough  people  who  can  do 
that.  I  send  you  likewise  the  commentaries  on  the  Psalms. 

So  far,  however,  as  the  Jeremiah  is  concerned,  I  have  informed 
you  more  than  once  that  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief, 
I  can  find  no  old  copy  of  Jeremiah  in  any  cloister.  I  have  done 
much  riding  here  and  there  for  this  purpose,  and  I  should  not 
undertake  to  correct  it  for  you  without  a  text.  There  is,  how- 
ever, no  real  necessity  for  this,  since  master  Bruno '  and  yourself 
are  able  to  supply  the  lack,  so  far  as  the  Hebrew  is  concerned, 
and  master  Johann  Cuno,  the  Dominican,  can  readily  find  a 
Greek  text  amongst  the  books  of  his  cloister,  wherefore  there  is 
no  need  of  me.  Likewise  regarding  the  interpretaiiones  hebrai- 
corum  nominum,  no  one  would  undertake  this,  because  it  is  in- 
correct; in  fact,  it  was  not  composed  by  St.  Jerome,  but  the 
Greek  church  formerly  possessed  it,  and  so  he  translated  it  from 
the  Greek;  and  it  contains  much  that  is  erroneous,  because  in  his 
exposition  he  has  not  followed  his  own  judgment,  but  the  common 
error,  as  he  himself  permits  it  to  be  seen  in  the  Epistola  ad  Fabi- 
olam  de  4.2  mansionibus,  mansione  nona.  It  would  be  possible  to 
point  out  appropriately  in  an  introduction  that  it  is  not  his  own. 

In  the  same  way,  so  far  as  the  two  introductions  are  concerned, 
the  one  in  Uterus  hebraeas,  the  other  in  literas  graecas,  since  you 
write  that  there  will  be  need  of  them  for  those  who  wish  to  buy 
and  read  St.  Jerome,  I  must  inform  you  that  I  have  not  been  neg- 
ligent of  your  interests  in  the  matter,  but  have  had  master  Thomas 
print  the  introductorinm1  of  Aldus  in  Greek  and  Hebrew,  and  he 
has  done  it  well.  I  have  also  incorporated  with  it  the  seven  peni- 
tential psalms  with  my  literal  exposition  and  furthermore  a  syn- 
opsis of  the  Rudiment*)  and  had  master  Thomas  print  the  same,  in 
order  that  your  Jerome  and  your  Rudimenta  which  you  purchased 
of  me,  should  be  of  more  value  and  succeed  better;  for  of  what 
use  was  it  to  make  a  vocabulary  and  grammar,  when  no  one  could 
obtain  a  Jewish  book,  whereby  he  might  have  use  for  a  vocabulary. 

Master  Hans  Froben  has  already  written  me  in  your  behalf,  that 
you  have  complained  loudly  because  many  of  the  copies  of  the 

1  Son  of  Ammerbach. 

1  Iniroductorium  perbreve  ad  gramm.  hebr. 


JOHANN  REUCHLIN.  37 

Rudimenla  were  wanting  or  had  been  injured,  and  that  on  this 
account  you  have  held  back  the  money  loaned  by  me;  it  was  my 
intention  to  arrange  the  matter  with  him  at  the  last  fair,  but  at 
that  time  he  did  not  come  to  Frankfort.  However,  my  dear  mas- 
ter Hans,  dear  sir  and  friend,  if  any  shortage  has  occurred  in  the 
case  of  these  books,  it  is  not  my  fault.  For  when  you  made  the 
bargain  with  me,  according  to  the  terms  of  our  written  contract, 
made  at  Basel  and  signed  with  your  own  hand,  you  directed  me, 
after  having  divided  with  master  Thomas,  to  place  600  copies  in 
my  sister's  house  at  Pforzheim,  so  that  you  might  find  them  there. 
I  did  that,  as  certain  reputable  persons  can  testify  who  were  there 
at  the  time,  and  I  had  a  carpenter  build  some  shelving  out  of  tim- 
ber and  boards  in  one  of  my  sister's  rooms,  according  to  the  ad- 
vice of  those  who  understood  such  things.  Then  master  Thomas 
counted  me  out  600  books  and  placed  them  there  at  your  disposi- 
tion. He  also  (as  his  people  say)  sorted  them  out  one  by  one, 
some  weeks  previously,  in  order  to  get  the  best  copies.  You 
ought  at  that  time  to  have  had  them  taken  away  by  one  of  your 
own  men,  who  would  have  understood  better  about  arranging  and 
handling  them  than  my  sister,  who  nevertheless  out  of  friendly 
disposition  and  good  will  diligently  supervised  the  task.  They 
lay  there,  however,  a  long  time  periculo  emptoris,  until  I  received 
word  from  you  through  master  Hans,  that  you  desired  I  should 
have  the  goodness  to  arrange  with  Thomas  of  Pfortzheim  to  pack 
the  books  lying  in  my  sister's  house  and  send  them  to  Strasburg 
as  quickly  as  possible,  to  a  publisher  named  Johannes  Knobloch, 
and  that  I  should  advance  the  charges  for  carriage  from  Pfortz- 
heim to  Strasburg;  that  he  would  repay  me,  and  would  also  make 
good  whatever  the  casks  and  packing  cost. 

I  gave  evidence  of  my  friendly  disposition  toward  you,  and 
wrote  my  sister,  and  also  arranged  with  master  Thomas,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  above  request  addressed  to  me,  and  I  also  paid 
what  was  to  be  paid,  as  I  have  already  written  you.  But  a  few 
books,  I  do  not  know  how  many,  which  would  not  go  into  the 
casks,  are  still  lying  in  my  sister's  house.  Wherefore  I  have  now 
requested  my  sister  by  letter  to  have  these  books  carried  to  Frank- 
fort, where  they  may  reach  your  people;  and  in  this  matter  I  have 
acted  in  every  respect  as  if  it  had  been  my  own  affair.  I  have 
also  requested  master  Thomas  to  act  in  your  interest,  and  he  says 
that  he  will  do  with  diligence  what  you  desire,  and  will  again 


38  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

look  through  his  books,  and  if  he  finds  any  superfluous  leaves 
will  send  them  to  you;  and  this  you  are  also  to  do  for  him.  And 
this  may  be  done  easily,  for  each  leaf  has  its  number,  and  may  be 
noted  readily;  and  so  I  should  very  likely  be  informed  by  your 
people  that  there  was  no  further  shortage  or  defect,  but  for  the 
fact  that  when  they  packed  the  books  some  iron  nails  were  driven 
into  the  casks  to  hold  the  hoops  fast,  and  these  have  gone  through 
into  the  casks.  The  damage  ma}'  have  happened  quite  as  well  at 
Strasburg  as  at  Pfortzheim,  while  they  were  taking  the  books  out, 
when  they  may  have  caught  the  leaves  on  the  nails  and  have 
torn  them.  It  is  not  my  fault,  however;  that  must  be  evident  to 
you.  Therefore  I  maintain  my  point  and  will  not  recede  from  it, 
for  there  is  nothing  that  might  be  reckoned  my  fault;  and  even  if 
you  had  discovered  a  shortage  of  eighteen  books,  and  that  thirty 
books  were  defective  or  damaged,  as  master  Hans  writes,  still  it 
would  not  even  then  justify  a  deduction  of  eighteen  florins. 

You  also  promised  me  through  Conrad  Leontorius,  whom  you 
commissioned  to  bring  your  book  to  me,  and  who  wrote  me  with 
his  own  hand,  that  if  I  would  correct  the  corresponding  passages 
in  the  Greek  and  Latin  texts  of  St.  Jerome,  you  would  give  me 
twenty  florins.  I  have  corrected  a  third  more  than  the  agreement 
called  for,  and  have  also  placed  Jeremiah  last,  for  in  your  book 
the  New  Testament  stands  after  the  epistles  of  Jerome. 

Again,  you  instructed  me  to  come  to  Basel,  and  the  journey 
cost  me  for  myself  and  my  servant  and  horse  more  than  ten  florins 
in  money.  In  addition  to  this  I  loaned  you  there  five  florins  and 
some  shillings;  then  you  promised  at  Basel  to  give  me  a  Spanish 
bed-cover  and  several  books,  such  as  the  works  of  Augustine, 
Ambrose,  etc.  I  make  no  mention  of  the  carpenter's  food  and 
drink  and  the  porters  who  helped  to  carry  the  books  to  and  fro 
and  pack  them,  and  the  additional  sum  which  I  have  spent  in  rid- 
ing to  the  cloisters,  Bebenhausen,  Miihlbronn,  Hirshau,  Dencken- 
dorff  and  L,orch,  at  your  request.  All  that  would  have  been  suffi- 
cient security,  without  the  loan  of  money.  Indeed  I  would  not 
take  thirty  florins  and  do  for  any  one  else  the  work  I  did  for  you 
during  the  fourteen  days  I  was  at  your  place,  as  a  certain  one  who 
was  at  your  house,  master  Adam  by  name,  is  said  to  have  re- 
marked jocosely  at  Frankfort,  in  speaking  of  the  matter:  "What 
I  have  done  is  nothing,  but  there  is  one  with  you  now,  the  latchets 
of  whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  unloose."  But  I  am  willing 


SEBASTIAN    BRANT.  39 

to  let  that  pass.     I  have  done  the  best  I  could;  let  others  do  their 
part. 

Although  you  write  that  you  are  willing  to  lose  a  third  upon 
the  books  you  have  bought,  there  are  many  people  who  do  not 
credit  it.  Master  Thomas  is  dissatisfied  to  this  day,  because  I 
gave  you  my  books,  when  he  had  sold  all  of  his ;  for  I  have  suf- 
fered a  considerable  loss  in  the  transaction  and  merely  because  I 
would  not  wait  for  him;  therefore  you  must  simply  wait  until  the 
book  makes  money.  And  that  this  will  come  to  pass  I  have  no 
doubt,  for  if  I  live  the  Hebrew  tongue  must  go  ahead,  with  God's 
help;  and  if  I  die,  I  have  at  least  made  a  beginning  that  will  not 
easily  be  set  aside.  I  am  indeed  willing  to  suffer  loss  for  the  com- 
mon good,  dear  master  Hans,  sir  and  good  friend.  I  am  not  will- 
ing to  forfeit  your  friendship  for  the  sake  of  money.  If  I  have  de- 
served any  thanks  at  your  hands,  let  it  go  to  my  account;  if  I  have 
deserved  no  thanks  from  you,  then  may  God  reward  me,  and  may 
he  ever  protect  you  and  your  wife  and  your  children  from  misfor- 
tune. Given  the  Tuesday  after  the  festival  of  St.  Augustine,  in 
the  year  1512. l 

DOCTOR  JOHANN  REUCHUN. 


SEBASTIAN  BRANT. 

Sebastian  Brant  (1458-1521)  was  born  at  Strasburg,  studied  at  the  univer- 
sity of  Basel,  became  doctor  of  civil  and  canon  law,  and  taught  at  Basel 
until  1501,  when  he  returned  to  his  native  town.  There  he  held  several 
municipal  offices  and  in  1521  was  given  charge  of  an  embassy  to  Ghent  by 
the  emperor,  Charles  V. 

Brant's  Narrenschiff,  or  Ship  of  Fools  (Base.1,  1494)  was  one  of  the  most 
popular  books  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  work  passed  through  numer- 
ous editions  and  was  translated  into  many  modern  languages.  Alexander 
Barclay's  Ship  of  Fooles  (1509)  is  based  upon  Brant's  work,  but  is  so  ex- 
panded and  diluted  that  the  vigor  of  the  original  is  lost.  The  Narrenschiff 
has  uo  purpose,  other  than  that  of  a  satirical  presentation  of  the  weaknesses 
and  foibles  of  society.  Along  with  other  classes  of  society  it  handles  some- 
what roughly  the  shortcomings  of  the  clergy,  and  in  this  wise  furnished 
material  for  the  opponents  of  the  church.  Brant,  however,  was  thoroughly 
orthodox,  and  wrote  without  polemical  motive  and  without  hostility  to  the 
religious  institutions  of  his  times. 

1  Aug.  31,  1512,  at  Stuttgart, 


40  SOURCE-BOOK   OP  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

FROM  THE  Narrenschiff* 
The  foremost  rank  they've  given  me , 
Since  I  have  many  useless  books, 
Which  I  neither  read  nor  understand, 

(i)  Of  Useless  Books. 
That  I  sit  in  this  ship  foremost 
A  special  meaning  has  in  truth, 
And  is  not  done  without  a  cause. 
For  I  rely  upon  my  books, 
Of  which  I  have  a  great  supply, 
But  of  their  contents  know  no  word, 
And  hold  them  yet  in  such  respect, 
That  I  will  keep  them  from  the  flies. 
When  people  speak  of  knowledge,  I  say 
I  have  a  lot  of  it  at  home; 
And  am  content  with  this  alone, 
To  see  a  lot  of  books  about. 
King  Ptolemy,  he  so  contrived, 
That  he  had  all  books  in  the  world, 
And  held  them  for  a  treasure  great. 
Still  he  had  not  the  law  of  truth, 
Nor  knew  well  how  to  use  his  books. 
So  I  have  many  books  as  well, 
And  very  few  of  them  peruse. 
Why  should  I  break  my  head  on  them, 
And  bother  myself  with  lore  at  all  ? 
Who  studies  much  becomes  a  guy. 
Myself,  I'd  rather  be  a  man, 
And  pay  people  to  learn  for  me. 
Although  I  have  a  clownish  mind, 
Yet  when  I  am  with  learned  folk, 
I  know  how  to  say  "  ita  "  for  yes. 
Of  German  orders  I  am  proud, 
For  little  Latin  do  I  know. 
I  know  that  vinum  stands  for  wine, 
Cuculus  for  gawk,  stultus  for  fool, 
That  "  Domine  Doctor  "  I  am  called. 

1  Sebastian  Brant's  Narrenschiff,  herausgegeben  von  F.  Zarnke.     Leipzig, 
1854. 


SEBASTIAN   BRANT.  4! 

If  my  ears  were  not  hid  for  me 
A  miller's  beast  you'd  quickly  see. 

Who  studies  not  the  proper  art, 
He  surely  wears  the  cap  and  bells, 
Is  led  forth  on  the  string  of  fools. 
(27)  Of  Useless  Studies. 
The  students  I  cannot  neglect; 
They  too  are  taxed  with  cap  and  bells, 
And  when  they  put  their  headgear  on 
The  point  may  somewhat  backward  hang. 
For  when  they  ought  to  study  hard, 
They'd  rather  go  and  fool  about. 
To  youth  all  learning's  trivial. 
Just  now  they'd  rather  spend  their  time 
With  what  is  vain  and  of  no  use. 
The  masters  have  the  selfsame  fault, 
In  that  true  learning  they  despise 
And  useless  trash  alone  regard: 
As  to  whether  it's  day  or  night 
Or  whether  a  man  a  donkey  made, 
Or  Socrates  or  Plato  walked. 
Such  learning  now  the  schools  employs. 
Are  they  not  fools  and  stupid  quite 
That  go  about  by  day  and  night, 
Among  themselves  and  other  folk? 
For  better  learning  they've  no  care. 
Of  them  it  is  that  Origen 
Speaks,  when  he  says  that  they  are  like 
The  frogs  and  grasshoppers  that  once 
Th'  Egyptian  land  reduced  to  waste. 
And  so  the  young  men  get  them  hence 
While  we  at  Leipzig,  Erfurt,  Wien, 
Heidelberg,  Mainz  and  Bale  hold  out. 
But  come  back  home  although  with  shame, 
The  money  by  that  time  is  spent. 
And  then  we're  glad  to  turn  to  trade, 
And  then  one  learns  to  bring  in  wine, 
And  soon  turns  out  a  serving-man. — 
The  student  cap  will  get  its  bells. 


42  SOURCE-BOOK   OF   THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

MAXIMILIAN  /. 

Maximilian  I.,  emperor  of  Germany  from  1493  to  1519,  son  of  Frederick 
III.,  emperor  and  founder  of  the  Hapsburg  power  in  modern  Europe,  was 
born  in  1459.  In  T477  Maximilian  married  Mary  of  Burgundy,  heiress  of 
Charles  the  Bold,  thereby  securing  to  his  line  the  succession  to  the  rich  pos- 
sessions of  the  house  of  Burgundy. 

In  addition  to  his  patronage  of  literature  and  the  arts,  Maximilian  found 
leisure  for  literary  composition.  Among  the  works  attributed  to  him  are  the 
Theuerdank,  a  poetical  allegory,  setting  forth  the  adventures  of  his  court- 
ship, and  the  Weisskunig,  a  general  record  of  his  life,  in  prose.  Just  what 
part  may  be  ascribed  to  Maximilian  in  the  preparation  of  this  work  is  uncer- 
tain. It  is  believed,  however,  that  the  emperor  furnished  the  material,  and 
that  the  literary  form,  of  the  Weisskunig  at  least,  was  the  contribution  of 
his  secretary,  Treitzsauerwein. 

FROM  THE    Weisskunig} 
How  the  Queen  gave  birth  to  a  son. 

When  now  the  time  of  the  child's  birth  drew  near,  there  was 
seen,  but  as  yet  not  clearly,  a  comet  in  the  sky,  and  it  gave  rise 
to  many  opinions.  The  old  white  king,  likewise  the  exiled 
prince  and  all  the  folk  of  the  entire  kingdom  cried  aloud  to  God, 
with  great  devotion,  asking  that  through  his  divine  grace  all  the 
people  might  have  occasion  to  rejoice  in  the  queen's  safe  delivery. 
When  any  Christian  man  contemplates  the  mighty  grace  which 
Almighty  God  conferred  upon  them  both  in  this  world,  as  for 
example,  the  highest  spiritual  and  temporal  honor  of  their 
coronation  at  Rome;  and  when  he  thinks  as  well  of  their  piety 
and  humility,  that  in  their  love  of  God  they  visited  and  sought 
to  honor  all  holy  places  in  the  City  of  Rome  and  elsewhere;  then 
he  need  not  doubt  that  God  heard  this  prayer  out  of  his  benign 
tenderness,  for  all  good  things  come  from  God.  And  on  this  day 
and  at  the  hour  of  the  child's  birth  the  selfsame  comet  appeared 
much  larger  than  before  and  gave  forth  a  clear  and  brilliant  light. 
Although  comets,  for  many  reasons,  usually  make  melancholy 
the  heart  of  him  who  looks  upon  them,  yet  this  comet  with  its 
glow  was  pleasing  to  look  upon,  so  that  each  heart  was  moved  at 
the  sight  of  the  comet,  and  thereby  its  special  influence  was  a 
sign  and  revelation  of  the  child's  birth.  In  the  midst  of  this 

1  Der  Weiss  Kunig  ;  eine  Erzehlung  von  den  Thaten  Kaiser  Maximilian  I., 
von  M.  Treitzsaurwein  auf  dessen  Angeben  zusammengetrageu,  nebet  den 
von  H.  Burgmair  dazu  verfertigten  Holzschnitteu.  Wien,  1775. 


MAXIMILIAN   I.  43 

appearance  of  the  comet,  the  queen,  through  the  divine  grace 
granted  and  bestowed  upon  her,  in  the  city  called  the  Neustadt, 
bore  her  child  with  gentle  pains,  and  was  in  her  delivery  greatly 
rejoiced,  because  the  child  was  a  beautiful  son.  Then  out  of  joy 
they  began  to  ring  the  bells  and  throughout  the  whole  kingdom 
were  lighted  countless  fires  of  rejoicing.  How  great  was  the  joy 
of  the  old  white  king  and  all  the  people  of  his  kingdom,  over  this 
happy  birth.  Now  when  this  child  was  born,  the  comet  ceased  at 
once  with  its  glow,  whereby  it  is  to  be  recognized  that  the  same 
comet  was  a  token  of  the  child's  future  rule  and  of  his  wondrous 
deeds.  And  the  exiled  prince  recognized  that  b)'  this  comet 
his  counsel  was  confirmed  through  the  influence  of  heaven,  and 
he  also  requested  that  he  might  raise  the  child  from  the  baptismal 
font,  to  which  office  he  was  called  by  the  old  white  king,  since 
the  prince  himself  was  born  of  kingly  race.  One  thing  will  I 
make  known:  that  when  this  child  came  to  his  years  and  to  his 
rule,  he  was  most  victorious  and  most  warlike,  and  to  look  upon 
his  countenance  he  was  most  gracious,  which  indeed  is  wonderful 
to  see  in  one  who  is  warlike  and  of  all  most  warlike;  in  this  may 
be  recognized  the  comet's  bold  and  frank  appearance,  and  its 
gracious  aspect,  as  a  token  of  the  future. 

Note,  that  the  king's  countenance  is  likened  to  this  gracious 
aspect. 

How  the  young  white  king  learned  the  black  art. 

In  this  advancement  of  the  young  white  king,  his  father,  the 
old  white  king,  took  great  satisfaction,  and  his  heart  beat  so  high 
with  joy  that  a  terror  seized  him  when  he  thought  that  all  joys 
should  have  their  source  in  the  praise  and  honor  of  God  ;  and  in 
this  manner  his  spirit  was  deeply  moved  to  consider  the  future 
upholding  of  the  Christian  faith.  How  great  was  his  emotion  ! 
He  recalled  how  often  in  former  times,  powerful  kings  in  their 
later  years  were  fallen  awa)'  from  the  true  belief  into  a  new  faith, 
all  of  which  had  come  about  solely  through  the  seduction  of  the 
black  art.  Much  is  to  be  written  thereof,  but  as  a  proof  of  what 
I  write,  this  same  art  is  forbidden  in  the  Christian  faith  and  by 
the  ordinances  of  imperial  law,  and  exterminated,  whereby  it 
must  be  let  alone,  for  the  soul's  salvation  and  for  the  increase  of 
our  faith.  Although  this  art  is  damning  to  the  soul  and  an  in- 
jury to  our  faith,  yet  the  human  spirit  is  so  weak  and  diseased 


44  SOURCE-BOOK  OF   THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

in  its  constancy,  in  its  determination  to  discover  hidden  things, 
that  this  art,  whose  false  basis  and  unreality  is  hidden,  is  so  very 
dear  to  man  that  many  come  thereby  into  error  and  despair. 
Now  the  young  white  king  often  heard  speak  of  this  art,  and  from 
time  to  time  he  chanced  to  see  the  very  ablest  writings,  wherein 
this  art  is  set  forth.  In  the  midst  of  the  joy  and  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  old  white  king,  as  related  above,  the  young  white  king 
came  to  him.  Then  spake  the  father  to  the  son  :  "  What  think 
you  and  how  do  you  regard  the  black  art,  which  is  a  damnation 
to  the  soul,  and  a  crime  and  seduction  to  men?  Are  you  not 
disposed  to  learn  it?"  Thus  did  the  father  for  the  purpose  of 
making  evident  to  him  the  hidden  seduction,  and  to  plant  future 
doubts.  The  son  gave  him  answer:  "St.  Paul,  that  most  ex- 
cellent teacher  of  the  Christian  faith,  writes  and  commands  us 
that  we  shall  learn  all  things  and  experience  all  things,  but  avoid 
the  ill  and  cleave  to  that  which  is  good."  Thereupon  spake  the 
father  to  the  son:  "Go  hence  and  take  to  yourself  the  most 
learned  man  in  the  black  art,  and  investigate  it  thoroughly  ;  but 
bear  in  mind  the  first  commandment  of  God  :  Thou  shalt  believe 
in  one  God  ;  and  also  St.  Paul's  teaching,  which  you  have  just 
indicated  to  me."  The  young  white  king  sought  out  an  espec- 
ially learned  man  in  the  black  art,  who  began  to  teach  him  with 
uncommon  industry,  with  the  idea  that  this  same  art  should  be 
looked  upon  by  the  prince  as  good  and  useful  and  held  dear. 
And  when  the  young  white  king  had  studied  it  for  a  time,  and 
satisfied  himself  of  its  uselessness,  he  discovered  that  the  art  was 
contrary  to  the  first  commandment  of  God,  which  reads :  Thou 
shalt  believe  in  one  God;  and  for  the  first  time  he  understood  St. 
Paul's  teaching,  for  he  who  has  not  experience  of  it  easily  be- 
lieves, and  thereby  it  often  comes  about  that  he  is  led  astray. 
For  a  while  the  learned  man  disputed  with  the  young  white  king, 
in  order  to  discover  his  spirit  and  his  desire,  and  then  he  said  to 
him  :  ' '  This  art  is  an  art  whereby  great  lords  ma}-  increase  their 
power."  Then  asked  the  young  white  king  of  him,  whether 
there  were  more  gods  than  one.  Thereupon  he  answered  :  ' '  There 
is  but  one  God."  Upon  this  answer  the  young  white  king  said  : 
"  You  have  spoken  truly,  and  thereby  is  the  black  art  vain,  and 
the  learning  which  I  have  discovered  in  the  same,  the  seduction 
of  our  faith. ' '  From  this  speech  the  learned  man  easily  perceived 
that  he  was  sufficiently  wandered  in  this  lore.  With  how  great 


MAXIMILIAN   I.  45 

wisdom  had  the  old  white  king  made  the  reflection  above  related, 
and  how  prolific  of  usefulness  was  it  to  the  Christian  faith  ;  for 
when  the  young  white  king  came  into  his  years  and  into  his 
powerful  reign,  he  permitted  no  unbelief  nor  heresy  to  be  kindled 
or  spread  abroad,  which,  however,  have  often  obtained  the  upper 
hand  ;  and  indeed  it  has  happened  from  time  to  time  that,  through 
the  confidence  and  by  permission  of  inexperienced  men,  men  of 
evil  have  been  strengthened  in  their  desperate  enterprises  and 
have  adhered  to  them,  a  thing  which  these  kings  through  their 
careful  experience  and  their  especial  wisdom  have  avoided,  to  the 
salvation  and  happiness  of  their  souls  and  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  Christian  religion. 

How  the  young  white  king  came  to  the  young  queen,  and  how  he  was  received. 

\Vhen  the  young  white  king  was  on  his  way  to  visit  the  afore- 
said young  queen,  then  was  this  announced  to  the  two  queens 
aforesaid.  Thereupon  they  were  filled  with  great  joy  and  wrote 
at  once  to  all  their  retainers,  and  let  them  know  as  well  of  the 
approach  of  the  young  white  king.  The  retainers  tarried  not,  but 
came  without  hindrance  to  the  two  queens.  Then  counsel  was 
taken  of  them  as  to  how  the  young  white  king  should  be  received. 
Thereupon  was  written  to  the  young  white  king,  he  should  come 
into  the  city  named  Ghent,  and  the  two  queens,  with  their  re- 
tainers, would  also  come  thither;  and  as  soon  as  this  letter  had 
been  dispatched  to  the  young  white  king,  the  two  queens,  with 
their  retainers,  drew  into  the  said  city  and  there  awaited  the 
arrival  of  the  young  white  king,  who,  after  a  few  days,  himself 
came  thither;  and  on  the  same  day  that  he  entered  the  city  there 
rode  toward  him,  first,  the  citizens  of  the  city,  most  elegantly 
arrayed,  then  all  the  retainers,  princes,  bishops,  prelates,  counts, 
lords,  knights  and  squires,  a  great  multitude  ;  then  the  whole 
clergy,  with  all  the  sacred  relics,  in  a  procession,  and  all  the 
people  of  the  city,  and  received  the  young  king  with  great  honor 
and  high  distinction,  and  with  especial  joy;  and  he  too  rode  into 
the  city,  with  great  concourse,  in  costly  array  and  royal  honors, 
and  all  who  saw  him  felt  an  especial  pleasure  in  his  beautiful 
youth  and  upright  bearing,  and  the  common  folk  said,  they  had 
never  seen  a  finer  youth,  and  the}'  were  filled  with  amazement, 
that  the  old  white  king,  his  father,  should  have  sent  his  son,  in 
the  beauty  of  his  youth,  so  far  into  a  foreign  land;  and  the  young 


46  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

king  was  festively  entertained  at  his  lodging,  which  was  decorated 
for  him  in  the  richest  manner.  The  two  queens  had  prepared 
towards  evening  a  grand  banquet,  and  sent  to  the  young  king 
persons  of  high  degree,  to  invite  him  to  the  banquet,  where  the 
two  queens  would  receive  him  in  person;  and  when  he  would  go 
to  the  banquet  he  dressed  and  adorned  himself  with  elegant 
clothes  and  jewels,  and  went  with  his  princes,  nobles  and  knights, 
in  royal  array,  to  the  banquet.  Then  night  came  on  and  the 
throng  was  great,  and  there  were  many  torches,  for  each  wished 
to  see  the  young  white  king.  Meanwhile  the  two  queens  were 
alone  together  in  an  apartment,  and  conversing  together  said  that 
they  would  like  to  see  the  young  king  secretly.  Thereupon 
the  old  queen,  the  young  queen's  mother,  disguised  herself  in 
strange  garments  and  went  secretly  and  unknown  out  of  the 
apartment  into  the  hall,  where  the  young  white  king  should 
come.  Now  the  crowd  of  people  was  so  great  that  for  a  long  time 
the  old  queen  was  unable  to  get  past,  and  was  obliged  secretly  to 
seek,  and  when  finally  she  came  past  the  people,  at  that  same 
moment  the  young  white  king  entered  the  hall,  and  when  he  was 
pointed  out  to  her  at  first  she  would  not  believe  that  it  was  the 
young  white  king,  for  she  thought  he  was  too  handsome,  and 
that  she  had  never  seen  a  youth  so  fine,  and  she  tarried  to  see 
which  of  all  really  was  the  young  white  king.  And  now  she 
saw  that  all  honor  was  done  to  this  same  handsome  youth,  and 
moreover  that  he  was  escorted  by  the  mighty  archbishops  and 
princes,  and  that  this  youth  could  be  no  other  than  the  young 
white  king.  Thereupon  the  old  queen  went  in  haste  to  her 
daughter,  the  young  queen,  in  her  chamber,  and  said  from  the 
depths  of  her  heart:  "  O  daughter,  no  such  beautiful  youth  have 
I  seen  as  the  young  white  king  and  this  young  king  shall  be  thy 
lord  and  consort,  and  no  other."  From  these  words  it  is  seen 
that  the  king  of  France  and  his  son  came  to  grief  with  their 
secret  wooing,  which  I  have  mentioned  before. 

For  the  young  white  king  was  indeed  a  comely  youth,  well 
built  in  body  and  bone,  and  had  a  sweet  and  lovely  countenance 
and  wonderfully  beautiful  yellow  hair;  he  was  called,  on  account 
of  his  beauty  and  his  fitness,  the  white  king  with  the  gracious 
countenance.  Now  when  the  young  white  king  stood  in  the 
middle  of  the  hall,  the  two  queens  advanced  to  him  with  great 
elegance  and  received  him  with  royal  honors,  with  great  joy  and 


DESIDERIUS   ERASMUS.  47 

friendliness.  And  as  soon  as  the  young  queen  saw  the  young 
white  king  she  was  much  pleased  with  his  person,  and  with  this 
same  contentment  her  heart  became  inflamed  with  honorable  love 
toward  him.  In  this  same  hour,  with  her  royal  consent,  the 
marriage  was  confidentially  discussed  and  joyfully  determined 
upon,  and  thereafter  the  banquet  with  great  enjoyment  carried 
out.  How  rich  in  joy  was  indeed  this  banquet,  where  such  a 
royal  marriage,  between  two  persons  of  the  greatest  worth  and 
beauty  was  concluded! 

DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS. 

Desiderius  Erasmus  (1467-1536),  as  he  called  himself  according  to  the  lit- 
erary fashion  of  the  time,  changing  the  name  of  Gerhard  to  its  Latin  and 
Greek  equivalent,  was  born  at  Rotterdam,  a  natural  sou  of  Gerhard  of  Prae't. 
Left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age,  he  was  induced  against  his  inclination  to 
take  monastic  vows  in  1486,  but  effected  his  release  from  a  life  which  he 
found  distasteful,  and  went  to  Paris  as  secretary  to  the  Bishop  of  Cambray. 
A  student  at  the  university  of  Paris,  Erasmus'  health  was  broken  with  the 
privations  undergone,  both  iu  Paris  and  during  the  following  years  of  scant 
existence.  To  Lord  Mouutjoy,  whom  he  tutored  at  Paris,  he  owed  au  intro- 
duction to  English  society,  and  an  acquaintance  with  the  English  scholars, 
More  and  Colet.  In  1506  he  made  the  journey  to  Italy,  and  published  from 
the  Aldine  Press  his  book  of  Adages  (printed  for  the  first  time  in  1500).  In 
1509  Erasmus  returned  to  England,  hoping  much  from  the  new  king,  Henry 
VIII.,  who  as  a  prince  was  favorably  inclined  toward  learning.  At  this  time 
he  composed  in  England  the  Praise  of  Folly,  best  known  of  Erasmus'  works, 
perhaps  because  the  Reformers  found  in  it  such  valuable  material  for  their 
attack  upon  the  Roman  church. 

Dissatisfied  with  England  as  a  place  of  residence,  partly  on  account  of  the 
indifference  of  the  king,  and  partly  because  of  its  remoteness  from  the  great 
centres  of  publication,  Erasmus  returned  to  the  continent  in  1513,  and  took 
up  his  residence  at  Basel.  Here  he  lived  the  greater  part  of  his  remaining 
years,  engaged  in  literary  work.  The  Reformation  broke  in  rudely  upon 
his  labors.  While  sympathizing  with  Luther's  early  attempt  to  check  the 
abuses  of  the  church,  Erasmus'  interests  were  not  theological.  His  work — 
and  few  men  worked  more  strenuously — was  literary.  To  him  all  was  unwel- 
come that  threatened  the  repose  necessary  for  the  intellectual  development 
of  Europe.  The  Reformers,  unable  to  recognize  his  position  or  to  sympa- 
thize with  a  condition  of  indifference  toward  theological  matters,  branded 
him  a  moral  coward,  and  traces  of  this  unjust  stigma  have  outlived  the  per- 
iod of  dogmatic  controversy  and  lingered  on  into  modern  times. 

Of  Erasmus'  numerous  works  the  Colloquies  is  said  to  have  had  the  great- 
est immediate  circulation.  "No  book,"  says  Hoefer,  "passed  through  so 
many  editions  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  as  the  Colloquies 


48  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

of  Erasmus.  In  them  the  author  is  found  at  his  best,  with  all  that  nicety  of 
observation,  that  caustic  and  incisive  vein,  that  purity,  that  versatility  and 
elegance  of  style  which  justify  for  Erasmus  the  name  of  the  Voltaire  of  the 
sixteenth  century." 

For  the  latest  contribution  from  a  scholarly  source  to  the  history  of  Eras- 
mus, cf.  Dr.  Ephraim  Emerton's  Desiderius  Erasmus,  in  the  Heroes  of  the 
Reformation  series,  Putnams,  N.  Y.,  1899. 

TWO  COW.OQUIES.1 

/.   Naufragium . 

A.  These  are  dreadful  things  that  you  tell.     Is  that  sailing  ? 
God  forbid  that  any  such  idea  should  come  into  my  head. 

B.  Indeed,  what  I  have  related  is  mere  child's  play  compared 
with  what  you  are  about  to  hear. 

A.  I  have  heard  more  than  enough  of  mishaps.     I  shudder 
while  you  narrate  them,  as  though  I  myself  were  present  at  the 
danger. 

B.  Indeed,  to  me  past  struggles  are  pleasing.     That  night  some- 
thing happened  which  almost  took  away  the  captain's  last  hope 
of  safety. 

A.  What,  I  pray  ? 

B.  The  moon  was  bright  that  night,  and  one  of  the  sailors  was 
standing  on  the  round-top  (for  so  it  is  called,  I  believe)  keeping  a 
lookout  for  land.     A  globe  of  fire  appeared  beside  him.     It  is  con- 
sidered by  sailors  to  be  an  evil  omen  if  the  fire  be  single,  a  good 
omen  if  it  be  double.     In  ancient  times  these  were  thought  to  be 
Castor  and  Pollux. 

A.  What  have  they  to  do  with  sailors  ?    One  of  them  was  a 
horseman,  the  other  a  boxer. 

B.  Well,  this  is  the  view  of  the  poets.     The  captain  who  was 
sitting  at  the  helm,  spoke  up.     "  Mate,"  said  he,  (for  sailors  ad- 
dress each  other  in  this  manner),    "do  you  see  what  is  beside 
you?"     "  I  see,"  he  replied,  "  and  I  hope  it  may  be  lucky."     By 
and  by  the  globe  of  fire  descended  along  the  rigging  and  rolled 
up  to  the  feet  of  the  captain  himself. 

A.  Did  he  perish  with  fear  ? 

B.  Sailors  are  accustomed  to  strange  sights.     The  globe  stayed 
there  a  while,  then  rolled  along  the  side  of  the  vessel  and  dis- 
appeared down  through  the  middle  of  the  deck.     About  noon  the 

1  Opera  omuia  (edidit  J.  Clericus)  I/vgd.  Bat.,  P.  van  der  Aa.  1703-1706. 


DESIDERIUS   ERASMUS.  49 

storm  began  to  rage  with  greater  fury.     Have  you  ever  seen  the 
Alps? 

A.  Yes,  I  have  seen  them. 

B.  Those  mountains  are  mole-hills  compared  with  the  waves  of 
he  sea.     When  we  were  lifted  up  on  the  crest  of  a  wave,  we 
might  have  touched  the  moon  with  our  fingers.     As  often  as  we 
went  down  between  the  billows,  we  seemed  to  be  going  direct  to 
the  infernal  regions,  the  earth  opening  to  receive  us. 

A.  Foolish  people,  that  trust  themselves  to  the  sea  ! 

B.  The  sailors  struggled  in  vain  against  the  tempest,  and  at 
length  the  captain,  quite  pale,  came  toward  us. 

A.  That  pallor  presages  some  great  evil. 

B.  ' '  Friends, ' '  says  he,  I  have  lost  control  of  my  ship.  The  winds 
have  conquered  me,  and  nothing  remains  but  to  put  our  trust  in 
God,  and  for  every  one  to  prepare  himself  for  the  last  extremity." 

A.  O  speech  truly  Scythian  ! 

B.  "But  first, ' '  says  he,  ' '  we  shall  relieve  the  ship  of  her  cargo. 
Necessity,  a  stern  mistress,  commands  this.     It  is  better  to  save 
our  lives,  with  the  loss  of  our  goods,  than  to  perish  along  with 
our  goods."     The  truth  of  this  was  evident  to  us  ;  and  many  ves- 
sels full  of  precious  wares  were  thrown  into  the  sea. 

A.  This  was  indeed  a  loss  ! 

B.  There  was  a  certain  Italian  who  had  been  upon  an  embassy 
to  the  king  of  Scotland  ;  he  had  a  box  full  of  silver  vessels,  rings, 
cloth  and  silk  garments. 

A.  Would  he  not  compound  with  the  sea  ? 

B.  No;  he  wished  either  to  perish  with  his  beloved  wealth,  or 
to  be  saved  along  with  it ;  and  so  be  refused. 

A.  What  did  the  captain  say  ? 

B.  "  So  far  as  we  are  concerned,"  says  he,  "  you  are  welcome 
to  perish  with  your  traps  ;  but  it  is  not  right  that  we  should  all 
be  endangered  for  the  sake  of  your  box,  and  rather  than  that  we 
will  throw  you  headlong  into  the  sea,  along  with  your  box." 

A.  A  speech  worthy  of  a  sailor. 

B.  So  the  Italian  also  made  his  contribution,  with  many  im- 
precations upon  the  powers  above  and  those  below,  that  he  had 
trusted  his  life  to  so  barbarous  an  element.     A  little  later  the 
winds,  in  no  wise  softened  by  our  offerings,  broke  the  rigging  and 
tore  the  sails  into  shreds. 

A.  Alas  !  alas  ! 


50  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

B.  Again  the  sailor  approaches  us, — 

A.  With  further  information  ? 

B.  He  greets  us.     "  Friends,"  says  he,  "  It  is  time  that  every- 
body should  commend  himself  to  God  and  prepare  for  death." 
When  certain  ones  who  had  some  knowledge  of  the  sea  asked 
him  how  many  hours  he  thought  he  could  keep  afloat,  he  said  he 
could  not  say  for  certain,  but  that  it  would  not  be  above  three 
hours. 

A.  This  information  was  more  serious  than  the  former. 

B.  With  these  words  he  ordered  all  ropes  to  be  severed  and  the 
mast  cut  with  a  saw  close  to  the  deck,  and  to  let  it  go  by  the 
board  together  with  the  yards. 

A.  Why  was  this  done  ? 

B.  Because,  since  the  sails  were  gone  or  torn  to  pieces,  it  was  a 
burden  rather  than  a  help.     All  our  hope  was  in  the  helm. 

A.  What  were  the  passengers  doing  meanwhile? 

B.  There  you  might  have  seen  a  miserable  condition  of  affairs. 
The  sailors,  singing  "  Salve,  regina"  implored  the  Virgin  mother, 
calling  her  star  of  the  sea,  queen  of  heaven,  ruler  of  the  world, 
harbor  of  safety,  and  flattering  her  with  many  other  titles,  which 
the  holy  scriptures  nowhere  attribute  to  her. 

A.  What  has  she  to  do  with  the  sea,  who  never  sailed,  so  far 
as  I  know  ? 

B.  Venus  formerly  had  the  care  of  sailors,  because  she  was  sup- 
posed to  have  been  born  of  the  sea  ;  since  she  has  ceased  her  care 
of  them,  the  Virgin  mother  has  been  substituted  for  her,  in  her 
maternal,  not  in  her  virginal  capacity. 

A.  You  are  joking. 

B.  Some  fell  down  upon  the  decks  and  worshiped  the  sea,  pour- 
ing into  the  waves  whatever  oil  was  at  hand,  flattering  it  not 
otherwise  than  we  used  to  flatter  an  angry  prince. 

A.  What  did  they  say  ? 

B.  "  O,    most   merciful   sea  !     O,    most   noble   sea !     O,    most 
wealthy  sea  !     Have  pity,  save  us  !  "     Many  things  of  this  sort 
they  sang  to  the  deaf  sea. 

A.  Absurd  superstition  !     What  were  the  others  doing  ? 

B.  Some  were  sufficiently  occupied  with  sea-sickness  ;  but  most 
of  them  offered  vows.     Among  them  was  a  certain  Englishman, 
who  promised  mountains  of  gold  to  our  Lady  of  Walsingham,  if 
only  he  might  touch  land  alive.     Some  promised  many  things  to 


DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS.  51 

the  wood  of  the  cross,  which  was  in  such  a  place  ;  others  again  to 
the  same  in  another  place.  The  same  was  done  in  the  case  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  who  reigns  in  many  places  ;  and  they  think  the  vow 
is  of  no  avail,  unless  you  name  the  place. 

A.  Absurd  !  as  if  the  saints  did  not  dwell  in  the  heavens. 

B.  There  were  some  who  promised  to  be  Carthusians.     One 
promised  to  go  to  James,  who  lives  at  Cotnpostella,  with  bare 
hands  and  feet,  his  body  covered  only  with  an  iron  coat  of  mail, 
begging  his  food  besides. 

A.  Did  nobody  mention  Christopher  ? 

B.  I  could  scarcely  refrain  from  smiling  when  I  heard  one  with 
a  loud  voice,  lest  he  should  not  be  heard,  promise  Christopher, 
who  is  in  Paris,  at  the  top  of  a  church,  a  mountain  rather  than 
a  statue,  a  wax  candle  as  big  as  he  himself.     While  he  was  bawl- 
ing this  out  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  with  now  and  then  an  addi- 
tional emphasis,  some  acquaintance  who  was  standing  by  touched 
him  on  the  elbow  and  advised  him,  saying,  "  Have  a  care  what 
you  promise;  for  if  you  sell  all  your  goods  at  auction,  you  will 
not    be    able  to  pay."     Then   says  he,   in   a  lower  tone,   lest 
Christopher  should  hear:   "  Hold  your  tongue,  fool;  do  you  think 
I  am  in  earnest  ?  When  once  I  have  touched  land,  I  will  not  give 
him  a  tallow  candle." 

A.  O,  heavy  wit!     I  take  it  he  was  a  Dutchman. 

B.  No,  but  he  was  a  Zealander. 

A.  I  wonder  that  nobody  thought  of  Paul  the  Apostle.     He 
himself  sailed,  and  when  the  ship  was  wrecked,  leaped  ashore;  for 
he  learned  through  misfortune  to  succor  the  unfortunate. 

B.  There  was  no  mention  of  Paul. 

A.  Did  they  pray  meanwhile  ? 

B.  Earnestly.     One  sang   "Salve  !  regina"  another  "Credo  in 
Deum."     Some  there  were  who  had  especial  prayers,  not  unlike 
magic  formulas,  against  danger. 

A.  How  religious  we  are  in  times  of  affliction!     In  times  of 
prosperity  neither  God  nor  saints  comes  into  our  head.     What 
were  you  doing  all  this  time  ?     Did  you  offer  vows  to  none  of  the 
saints  ? 

B.  Not  one. 

A.  Why  not  j 

B.  Because  I  do  not  drive  bargains  with  the  saints.     For  what 
is  it  other  than  a  contract  according  to  form  ?     "I  will  give  this, 


52  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

if  you  will  do  that ;  I  will  give  you  a  wax  candle,  if  I  swim  out  of 
this;  I  will  go  to  Rome,  if  you  will  save  me." 

A.  But  you  sought  the  protection  of  some  saint  ? 

B.  Not  even  that. 

A.  Why  not  ? 

B.  Because  Heaven  is  a  large  place.     If  I  commend  myself  to 
some  saint,  St.  Peter  for  example,  who  is  most  likely  to  hear  me 
first  of  all,  since  he  stands  at  the  door;  before  he  goes  to  God  and 
explains  my  case  I  shall  be  already  lost. 

A.  What  did  you  do,  then  ? 

B.  I  went  immediately  to  the  Father  himself,  saying:   "Our 
Father  who  art  in  heaven."     None  of  the  saints  hears  sooner 
than  He,  nor  gives  more  willingly  what  is  asked. 

A.  But  in   the   meanwhile  did   not  your  conscience  cry  out 
against  you  ?  were  you  not  afraid  to  call  him  Father  whom  you 
have  offended  with  so  many  transgressions  ? 

B.  To  tell  the  truth,  my  conscience  did  terrify  me  a  little;  but 
presently   I   gathered   courage,    thinking   to   myself  as   follows: 
There  is  no  father  so  angry  with  his  son,  but,  if  he  sees  him  in 
danger,  in  a  river  or  lake,  would  seize  him  by  the  hair  and  draw 
him  out  upon  the  bank.     Amongst  them  all  no  one  behaved  more 
quietly  than  a  certain  woman  wTho  had  a  baby  in  her  arms,  which 
she  was  nursing. 

A.  What  did  she  do? 

B.  She  was  the  only  one  who  did  not  cry  or  weep  or  promise. 
Embracing  her  child,  she  prayed  silently.     In  the  meantime  the 
ship  struck  now  and  then,  and  the  captain,  tearing  lest  it  should 
go  to  pieces,  bound  it  fore  and  aft  with  cables. 

A.  What  a  miserable  makeshift! 

B.  Meanwhile  an  aged  priest,  sixty  years  old,  whose  name  was 
Adam,  comes  foreward.     Casting  off  his  clothes  even  to  his  shirt 
and  his  leather  stockings  as  well,  he  ordered  that  we  should  pre- 
pare ourselves  in  a  similar  manner  for  swimming;   and  standing 
thus  in  the  middle  of  the  ship  he  preached  to  us  out  of  Gerson  the 
five  truths  concerning  the  usefulness  of  confession,  exhorting  us 
all  to  prepare  ourselves  for  life  or  death.     There  was  present  also 
a  Dominican.     Those  who  wished  confessed  to  these. 

A.  What  did  you  do  ? 

B.  Seeing    that    confusion    reigned    everywhere,    I    confessed 
silently  to  God,  condemning  before  him  my  unrighteousness  and 
imploring  his  mercy. 


DESIDERIUS   ERASMUS.  53 

A.  Whither  would  you  have  gone,  if  you  had  died  thus  ? 

B.  I  left  that  to  God  as  judge;  nor  was  I  disposed  to  be  my 
own  judge;  yet  in  the  meantime  I  was  not  without  some  hope. 
While  these  things  were  going  on,  the  sailor  returns  to  us  weep- 
ing.   ' '  Let  every  one  prepare  himself, ' '  says  he,  ' '  for  the  ship  will 
not  last  us  beyond  another  quarter  of  an  hour."     For  it  was  badly 
broken,  and  the  sea  was  rushing  in.     A  little  later  the  sailor  in- 
formed us  that  he  saw  a  church  tower,  and  advised  us  to  pray  to 
the  saint  for  aid,  whoever  might  be  the  patron  of  that  church. 
All  fall  upon  their  knees  and  pray  to  the  unknown  saint. 

A.  If  you  had  called  him  by  name  perhaps  he  might  have 
heard  you. 

B.  He  was  unknown  to  us.     Meanwhile  the  captain  steers  the 
ship,    shattered    as  it  was,    and   leaking    at    every   seam,    and 
evidently   ready  to  fall  to  pieces,  had  it  not  been  bound   with 
cables. 

A.  A  sad  condition  of  affairs. 

B.  We  came  so  far  in  shore  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  place 
saw  our  danger;  and  running  in  crowds  to  the  beach,  they  held 
up  their  coats  and  put  their  hats  upon  lances,   to  attract  our 
attention;    and   threw  their  arms  upward  toward  the  skies,   to 
signify  that  they  were  sorry  for  us. 

A.  I  am  anxious  to  know  what  happened. 

B.  The  sea  had  already  invaded  the  wThole  ship,  so  that  we 
were  likely  to  be  no  safer  in  the  ship  than  in  the  sea. 

A.  Then  you  wrere  obliged  to  flee  to  the  holy  anchor  ? 

B.  Nay,  to  the  miserable  one.     The  sailors  bail  out  the  boat 
and  lower  it  into  the  sea.     All  attempt  to  crowd  into  it,  and  the 
sailors  remonstrate  vigorously,  crying  that  the  boat  is  not  able  to 
hold  such  a  crowd;  that  each  one  should  lay  hold  of  whatever  he 
could  find  and  take  to  swimming.     There  was  no  opportunity  for 
deliberation.      One  took  an  oar,  another  a  boat-hook,  another  a 
sink,  another  a  plank;  and  all  took  to  the  waves,  each  one  resting 
upon  his  means  of  salvation. 

A.  In  the  meantime  what  became  of  that  poor  woman,  who 
alone  did  not  cry  out  ? 

B.  She  came  first  of  all  to  land. 

A.  How  was  that  possible  ? 

B.  We  placed  her  upon  a  wide  board,  and  lashed  her  on  so  that 
she  could  not  very  well  fall  off.    We  gave  her  a  paddle  in  her  hand 


54  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

which  she  might  use  instead  of  an  oar,  and,  wishing  her  well,  we 
set  her  adrift,  pushing  her  forward  with  a  pole,  so  that  she  might 
float  wide  of  the  ship,  from  which  there  was  danger.  She  held 
her  baby  with  her  left  hand  and  paddled  with  her  right. 

A.  What  a  courageous  woman! 

B.  When  nothing  was  left,  some  one  pulled  down  a  wooden 
image  of  the  Virgin  Mother,  now  rotten  and  hollowed  out  by  the 
rats,  and  embracing  it,  began  to  swim. 

A.  Did  the  boat  arrive  safe  ? 

B.  They  were  the  first  ones  to  be  lost. 

A.  How  did  that  happen  ? 

B.  Before  it  could  get  clear  of  the  ship  it  tipped  and  was  over- 
turned. 

A.  How  badly  managed  !     What  then  ? 

B.  While  watching  the  others  I  nearly  perished  myself. 

A.  How  so? 

B.  Because  nothing  remained  for  me  to  swim  upon. 

A.  Corks  would  have  been  of  use  there. 

B.  Just  at  this  time  I  would  rather  have  had  some  cheap  cork 
than  a  golden  candlestick.     Finalty,  as  I  was  looking  about,  it 
occurred  to  me  that  the  stump  of  the  mast  would  be  of  use  to  me  ; 
but  as  I  could  not  get  it  out  alone,  I  got  a  companion  to  help  me. 
We  both  threw  ourselves  upon  it  and  so  committed  ourselves  to 
the  sea,  I  upon  the  right  end,  he  upon  the  left.     While  we  were 
thus  tossing  about,  that  priest,  the  sea  chaplain,  threw  himself 
upon  the  middle,  between  our  shoulders.     He  was  a  stout  man. 
We  cried  out :   "  Who  is  this  third  man  ?     He  will  cause  us  all  to 
perish!"     He,  on  the  other  hand,  mildly  replied  :   ''Be  of  good 
cheer  ;  there  is  room  enough.     God  will  be  with  us." 

A.  Why  did  he  take  to  swimming  so  late  ? 

B.  He  was  to  have  been  with  the  Dominican  in  the  boat,  for 
all  deferred  to  him  in  this  ;  but  although  they  had  confessed  to 
one  another  on  the  ship,  yet  they  had  forgotten  something,  I 
know  not  what,  and  began  confessing  again  at  the  ship's  rail,  and 
one  laid  his  hand  upon  the  other.     Meanwhile  the  boat  was  lost  ; 
for  Adam  himself  told  me  this. 

A.  What  became  of  the  Dominican  ? 

B.  He,  the  same  one  told  me,  implored  the  saints'  help,  put  off 
his  clothes  and  took  to  swimming  all  naked. 

A.  What  saints  did  he  invoke  ? 


DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS.  55 

B.  Dominic,  Thomas,  Vincent ;  but  he  relied  most  upon  Cath- 
arine of  Sens. 

A.  Did  not  Christ  come  into  his  mind  ? 

B.  This  is  what  the  priest  told  me. 

A.  He  would  have  swum  better  had  he  not  put  off  his  holy 
cowl ;  with  that  off,  how  could  Catharine  of  Sens  recognize  him  ? 
But  go  on  about  yourself. 

B.  While  we  were  tossing  about  near  the  ship,  which  rolled 
hither  and  thither  at  the  mercy  of  the  waves,  the  helm  broke  the 
thigh  of  him  who  held  the  left  end  of  our  float,  and  he  was 
knocked  off.     The  priest  prayed  for  his  eternal  rest,  and  suc- 
ceeded to  his  place,  urging  me  to  hold  courageously  to  my  end 
and   move  my  feet   actively.     In  the  meanwhile  we  swallowed 
a  great  deal  of  salt  water.     Neptune  had  mixed  for  us  not  only  a 
salt  bath,  but  a  salt  drink  ;  but  the  priest  soon  had  a  remedy  for 
that. 

A.  What,  I  pray  ? 

B.  As  often  as  a  wave  came  toward  us,  he  turned  the  back  of 
his  head  to  it  with  his  mouth  firmly  closed. 

A.  You  say  he  was  a  stout  old  man  ? 

B.  Swimming  thus  for  some  time  we  had  made  considerable 
progress  when  the  priest,  who  was  a  man  of  unusual  height, 
said:   "  Be  of  good  cheer;  I  feel  bottom."     Not  having  dared  to 
hope  for  such  happiness,  I  replied:   "  We  are  yet  too  far  from 
shore  to  hope  to  find  bottom."     "  No,"   he  said,    "  I  feel  the 
ground  with  my  feet."     "  It  is,"  I  rejoined,  "some  of  the  boxes, 
perhaps,  which  the  sea  has  tumbled  thither."     "No,"  said  he, 
"  I  plainly  feel   the   earth  by  scratching  with  my  toes."     We 
swam  on  for  some  time  longer,  and  he  felt  bottom  again.     "You 
do,"   he  said,    "what  seems  to  you  best.     I  will  give  you  the 
whole  mast  and  trust  myself  to  the  bottom;"  and  at  the  same 
time  waiting  for  the  waves  to  flow  outward,  he  went  forward  as 
rapidly  as  he  could.     When  the  waves  came  again  upon  him, 
holding  firmly  to  his  knees  with  both  hands  he  met  the  wave, 
sinking  beneath  it  as  sea-gulls  and  ducks  are  accustomed  to  do; 
and  when  the  wave  again  receded  he  sprang  up  and  ran.     Seeing 
that  this  succeeded  in  his  case,  I  did  the  same.     Then  some  of 
the  strongest  of  those  who  stood  upon  the  beach,  and  those  most 
used  to  the  waves,  fortified  themselves  against  the  force  of  the 
waves  with  long  poles  stretched  between  them,  so  that  the  outer- 


56  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN    RENAISSANCE. 

most  held  out  a  pole  to  the  swimmer;  and  when  he  had  grasped 
it,  the  whole  line  moved  shorewards  and  so  he  was  drawn  safely 
on  dry  land.  Some  were  saved  in  this  manner. 

A.  How  many  ? 

B.  Seven  ;  but  of  these  two  fainted  with  the  heat,  when  set 
before  the  fire. 

A.  How  many  were  you  in  the  ship  ? 

B.  Fifty-eight. 

A.  O,  cruel  sea!     At  least  it  might  have  been  content  with  the 
tithes,  which  suffice  for  the  priests.     Did  it  return  so  few  out  of 
so  great  a  number  ? 

B.  We  were  surprisingly  well  treated  by  the  people,  who  fur- 
nished us  with  all  things  with  wonderful  cheerfulness,  lodging, 
fire,  food,  clothes,  and  provisions  for  our  homeward  journey. 

A.  What  people  were  they  ? 

B.  Dutch. 

A.  No  people  are  more  civil,  although  they  are  surrounded 
with  savage  nations.     You  will  not  go  to  sea  again,  I  take  it  ? 

B.  No,  not  unless  God  sees  fit  to  take  away  my  senses. 

A.  And  as  for  me,  I  would  rather  hear  such  tales  than  know 
them  by  experience. 

//.  Diversoria. 

A.  Why  do  so  many  people  stop  over  for  two  or  three  days  at 
L,yons?     As  for  me,  when  I  start  upon  a  journey  I  do  not  rest 
until  I  come  to  my  destination. 

B.  Indeed,  I  wonder  that  any  one  can  be  got  away  from  the 
place. 

A.  Why,  I  pray  ? 

B.  Because  that  is  the  place  the  companions  of  Ulysses  could 
not  have  been  drawn  away  from.     The  Sirens  are  there.     No  one 
is  treated  better  in  his  own  home  than  there  at  an  inn. 

A.  What  do  they  do  ? 

B.  Some  woman  was  always  standing  near  the  table  to  divert 
the  guests  with  wit  and  fun.     First  the  woman  of  the  house  came 
to  us,  greeted  us,  and  bade  us  to  be  of  good  cheer  and  make  the 
best  of  what  was  set  before  us.     Then  came  the  daughter,  a  fine 
woman,  merry  in  manner  and  tongue,  so  that  she  might  have 
amused  Cato  himself.     Nor  do  they  talk  to  their  guests  as  if  they 
were  strangers,  but  as  if  they  were  old  acquaintances. 

A.  Yes,  I  admit  that  the  French  people  are  very  civil. 


DESIDERIUS   ERASMUS.  57 

B.  But  since  they  could  not  be  present  all  the  time,  and  the 
business  of  the  house  had  to  be  attended  to  and  the  other  guests 
greeted,  a  girl  well  supplied  with  jokes  attended  us  during  the 
whole  meal.  She  was  well  able  to  repay  all  jesters  in  their  own 
coin.  She  kept  the  stories  going  until  the  daughter  returned,  for 
the  mother  was  somewhat  elderly. 

A.  But   what  sort  of   fare  had   you  with  all  this?     For  the 
stomach  is  not  filled  with  stories. 

B.  Fine  !     Indeed,  I  wonder  that  they  can  entertain  guests  so 
cheaply.     Then  too,  after  dinner  they  divert  you  with  pleasant 
conversation,  lest  you  should  grow  weary.     It  seemed  to  me  I  was 
at  home,  not  travelling. 

A.  How  about  the  sleeping  accommodations? 

B.  Even  there  we  were  attended  by  girls,  laughing,  romping 
and  playing  ;  they  asked  us  if  we  had  any  soiled  clothes,  washed 
them  for  us  and  brought  them  back.    What  more  can  I  say?    We 
saw  nothing  but  women  and  girls,  except  in  the  stables  ;  and  even 
there  they  burst  in  occasionally.     They  embrace  departing  guests 
and  send  them  away  with  as  much  affection  as  if  they  were  all 
brothers  or  near  relations. 

A.  Very  likely  such  manners  suit  the  French  ;  as  for  me,  the 
customs  of  Germany  please  me  more.     They  are  more  manly. 

B.  I  never  happened  to  visit  Germany  ;  so  tell  me,  I  beg  of  you, 
in  what  manner  the  Germans  entertain  a  guest. 

A.  I  am  not  certain  that  the  process  is  everywhere  the  same. 
I  will  relate  what  I  have  seen.  Upon  your  arrival  nobody  greets 
you,  lest  they  should  seem  to  court  a  guest ;  for  they  consider 
that  mean  and  unworthy  of  the  German  gravity.  When  you 
have  shouted  yourself  hoarse,  finally  some  one  puts  out  his  head 
from  the  window  of  the  stove-room  (for  they  live  there  up  to  the 
middle  of  the  summer),  just  as  a  snail  pokes  its  head  out  of  its 
shell.  You  have  to  ask  him  if  you  may  be  entertained  there. 
If  he  does  not  tell  you  no,  you  understand  that  place  will  be  made 
for  you.  To  your  inquiries,  with  a  wave  of  his  hand,  he  indi- 
cates where  the  stables  are.  There  you  are  permitted  to  take 
care  of  your  horse  as  you  choose  ;  for  no  servant  lifts  a  finger. 
If  the  tavern  is  a  large  one,  a  servant  will  show  you  the  stables 
and  a  rather  inconvenient  place  for  your  horse.  They  keep  the 
better  places  for  those  who  are  to  come,  especially  for  the  nobility. 
If  you  find  fault  with  anything,  you  are  told  at  once  that  if  it 


58  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

does  not  please  you,  you  are  at  liberty  to  hunt  another  tavern. 
In  the  cities  it  is  with  difficulty  that  you  can  get  any  hay,  even  a 
little,  and  then  they  sell  it  almost  as  dear  as  oats.  When  your 
horse  is  provided  for,  you  go  just  as  you  are  to  the  stove  room, 
boots,  baggage  and  mud.  There  is  one  room  for  all  comers 

B.  Among  the  French  they  show  the  guests  to  sleeping-rooms, 
where  they  may  change  their  clothes,  bathe  and  warm  them- 
selves, or  even  take  a  nap,  if  they  please. 

A.  Well,  there  is  no  such  thing  here.     In  the  stove-room  you 
take  off  your  boots  and  put  on  slippers.     If  you  like,  you  change 
your  shirt ;  you  hang  your  clothes,  wet  with  rain,  against  the 
stove ;  and  you  sit  by  it  yourself,  in  order  to  get  dry.     There  is 
water  at  hand  if  you  care  to  wash  your  hands,  but  it  is  generally 
so  clean  that  you  have   to  seek   more  water  to   wash  off  that 
ablution. 

B.  I  cannot  refrain  from  praising  men  who  are  so  little  softened 
with  the  elegancies  of  living. 

A.  Even  if  you  arrive  the  fourth  hour  after  noon  you  cannot 
get  your  supper  before  the  ninth,  and  sometimes  the  tenth. 

B.  Why  is  that  ? 

A.  They  serve  nothing  until  they  see  all  the  guests  assembled, 
in  order  that  the  same  effort  may  serve  for  all. 

B.  They  have  an  eye  to  labor-saving. 

A.  You  are  right.     And  thus  very  often  eighty  or  ninety  per- 
sons are  assembled  in  the  same  stove-room,  footmen,  horsemen, 
tradesmen,   sailors,    coachmen,    farmers,  boys,    women,    healthy 
people  and  sick  people. 

B.  That  is  in  truth  a  community  of  living. 

A.  One  is  combing  his  head,  another  wiping  the  perspiration 
from  his  face,  another  cleaning  his  winter  shoes  or  boots,  another 
reeks  of  garlic.     What  more  could  you  desire  ?     Here  is  no  less 
confusion  of  tongue  and  of  persons  than  there  was  once  in  the 
tower  of  Babel.     But  if  they  see  a  foreigner,  who  shows  some 
evidence  of  distinction  in  his  dress,  they  are  all  interested  in  him, 
and  stare  at  him  as  if  he  were  some  animal  from  Africa.     Even 
after  they  are  at  the  table  they  turn  their  heads  to  get  a  look, 
and  neglect  their  meals  rather  than  lose  sight  of  him. 

B.  At  Rome,  Paris  and  Venice  no  one  wonders  at  anything. 
A.  Meanwhile   you   may   not    call   for   anything.     When   the 

evening  is  far  advanced  and  no  more  guests  are  expected,  an  old 


DESIDERIUS   ERASMUS.  59 

servant  appears,  with  gray  beard,  cropped  head,  a  savage  look 
and  shabby  clothes. 

B.  It  was  necessary  that  such  should  be  cup-bearers  to  the 
Roman  Cardinals. 

A.  He  casts  his  eye  about  and  silently  reckons  how  many 
there  are  in  the  stove-room.     The  more  there  are  present  the 
more  violently  the  stove  is  heated,  although  the  weather  may  be 
uncomfortably  warm  outside.     This  is  the  certain  indication  of 
hospitality,  that  everybody  should  be  dripping  with  sweat.     If 
anyone  who  is  not  used  to  this  steaming,  should  open  a  chink  of 
a  window,  lest  he  be  stifled,  immediately  he  hears:   "  Shut  it! " 
If  you  reply:   "  I  cannot  bear  it!  "  you  hear:   "  Then  look  out  for 
another  tavern  !  " 

B.  It  seems  to  me  there  is  nothing  more  dangerous  than  for  so 
many  persons  to  breathe  the  same  air,  especially  when  the  pores 
are  open,  and  then  dine  and  stay  there  several  hours.     Not  to 
speak  of  the  odor  of  garlic  and  bad  breaths.     There  are  many, 
too,  who  are  affected  with  secret  diseases,  and  every  distemper  is 
to  a  certain  degree  infectious.     Certainly  many  have  the  Spanish, 
or  as  some  call  it,  the  French  evil,  although  it  is  common  enough 
to  all  nations.     I  think  there  is  not  much  less  danger  from  these 
than  from  lepers.     Just  think,  too,  how  great  danger  there  is  from 
the  plague! 

A.  Oh,  they  are  sturdy  fellows.     They  laugh  at  these  things. 

B.  But  at  the  same  time  they  are  brave  at  the  expense  of 
many. 

A.  Well,  what  can  you  do  about  it  ?     They  are  accustomed  to 
it,  and  it  is  a  sign  of  a  constant  mind  not  to  depart  from  estab- 
lished customs. 

B.  Twenty-five  years  ago  nothing  was  more  common  among 
the  people  of  Brabant  than  public  baths  ;  now  there  is  hardly  one 
to  be  found,  for  the  new  ailment  has  taught  us  to  avoid  them. 

A.  But  listen  to  the  rest.  The  bearded  Ganymede  returns  and 
spreads  with  linen  cloths  as  many  tables  as  he  considers  necessary 
for  the  number  of  guests.  But  heavens  and  earth  !  how  far  from 
fine  are  the  cloths.  You  would  say  they  were  sail-cloths  taken 
down  from  the  yard-arms  of  a  ship.  He  has  reckoned  on  eight 
guests  to  each  table.  Those  who  know  the  custom  of  the  coun- 
try now  sit  down,  each  one  where  he  pleases  ;  for  no  distinction 
is  made  between  a  poor  man  and  a  rich  man,  between  a  master 
and  a  servant. 


60  SOURCE-BOOK   OF   THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

B.  That  is  the  old  equality  which  tyranny  has  driven  out  of 
existence.  Thus,  I  believe,  Christ  lived  with  his  disciples. 

A.  Well,  after  all  are  seated,  the  grim  Ganymede  comes  out  and 
counts  over  his  company  once  more.     By  and  by  he  returns  and 
sets  before  each  guest  a  wooden  dish  and  a  spoon  of  the  same  kind 
of  silver;  then  a  glass  and  a  little  piece  of  bread.     Each  one 
polishes  up  his  utensils  in  a  leisurely  way,  while  the  porridge  is 
cooking.     And  thus  they  sit  not  uncommonly  for  upwards  of  an 
hour. 

B.  Does  no  guest  call  for  food  in  the  meantime  ? 

A.  No  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  temper  of  the  country. 
At  length  wine  is  served — good  Lord,  how  far  from  being  taste- 
less !     Those  who  water  their  wine  ought  to  drink  no  other  kind, 
it  is  so  thin  and  sharp.     But  if  any  guest  seeks  to  obtain  some 
other  kind  of  wine,  offering  to  pay  extra  for  it,  at  first  they  dis- 
semble, but  with  an  expression  as  if  they  wished  to  murder  you. 
If  you  insist  upon  it  they  answer  that  a  great  many  counts  and 
margraves  have  lodged  there  and  none  of  them  has  complained  of 
the  quality  of  the  wine  ;  if  it  does  not  suit  you,  why  then,  look 
out  for  another  tavern,  for  they  look  upon  their  noblemen  as  the 
only  men  of  importance,  and  exhibit  their  coats  of  arms  every- 
where.    Already,  then,  the  guests  have  a  crust  to  throw  to  their 
barking  stomachs.     By  and  by  the  dishes  come  on  in  great  array. 
The  first  usually  consists  of  pieces  of  bread  soaked  in  meat-broth, 
or,  if  it  be  fish-day,  in  a  broth  of  herbs.     After  this  comes  another 
kind  of  broth,  then  some  kind  of  warmed-up  meat  or  salt  fish. 
Again  the  porridge  is  brought  on,  then  some  more  substantial 
food,  until,  when  the  stomach  is  well  tamed,  they  serve  up  roast 
meat  or  boiled  fish,  which  is  not  to  be  despised.     But  here  they 
are  sparing,  and  take  the  dishes  away  quickly.     In  this  way  they 
diversify  the  entertainment,  like  play-actors  who  mix  choruses 
with  their  scenes,  taking  care  that  the  last  act  shall  be  the  best. 

B.  This  is  indeed  the  mark  of  a  good  poet.  ' 

A.  Moreover,  it  would  be  an  unpardonable  offense  if  anybody 
in  the  meantime  should  say  :  ' '  Take  away  this  dish  ;  nobody 
cares  for  it."  You  must  sit  there  through  the  prescribed  time, 
which  they  measure,  I  suppose,  with  an  hour-glass.  At  last,  the 
bearded  fellow,  or  the  inn-keeper  himself,  who  differs  very  little 
from  the  servants  in  his  dress,  comes  in  and  asks  if  there  is  any- 
thing wanted.  By  and  by  some  better  wine  is  brought  on. 


DESIDERIUS   ERASMUS.  6 1 

They  admire  most  him  who  drinks  most ;  but  although  he  is  the 
greater  consumer  he  pays  no  more  than  he  who  drinks  least. 

B    A  curious  people,  indeed  ! 

A.  The  result  is  that  sometimes  there  are  those  who  consume 
twice  the  value  in  wine  of  what  they  pay  for  the  whole  meal.  But 
before  I  end  my  account  of  this  entertainment,  it  is  wonderful 
what  a  noise  and  confusion  of  voices  arises,  when  all  have  begun  to 
grow  warm  with  drink.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  riot  is 
universal.  So-called  jesters  thrust  themselves  in  everywhere,  and 
although  there  is  no  kind  of  human  beings  more  despicable,  yet 
you  would  scarcely  believe  how  the  Germans  are  pleased  with 
them.  They  sing  and  prate,  shout,  dance  and  thump,  so  that  the 
stove  seems  ready  to  fall.  No  one  can  hear  another  speak.  But 
it  seems  to  please  them,  and  you  are  obliged  to  sit  there,  whether 
you  will  or  not,  until  late  into  the  night. 

A.  Now  do  finally  finish  the  entertainment ;  for  I  too  am  worn 
out  with  the  length  of  it. 

B.  Very  well.     When  at  last  the  cheese,  which  hardly  pleases 
them  unless  rotten  and  full  of  worms,  has  been  taken  away,  the 
bearded  fellow  comes  forth,  bearing  a  trencher  in  which  are  drawn 
with  chalk  some  circles  and  semi-circles,  and  lays  it  upon  the 
table,  so  silent,  meanwhile,  and  sad,  that  you  would  say  he  was 
some  Charon.     Then  they  who  comprehend  the  design  lay  down 
their  money,  then  another  and  still  another,  until  the  trencher  is 
filled.     Then  having  observed  who  has  contributed,  he  reckons 
it  up  silently  ;  and  if  nothing  is  wanting  he  nods  with  his  head. 

B.  What  if  there  should  be  something  over? 

A.  Perhaps  he  would  return    it.     As   a   matter   of  fact,   this 
sometimes  happens. 

B.  Does  nobody  ever  cry  out  against  the  reckoning  as  unjust? 

A.  Nobody  who  is  prudent.     For  he  would  hear  at  once : 
"  What  sort  of  a  fellow  are  you?     You  are  paying  no  more  than 
the  others  !" 

B.  This  is  certainly  a  frank  kind  of  people  you  are  telling  about. 

A.  And  if  anybody,  weary  with  his  journey,  asks  to  go  to  bed 
soon  after  supper,  he  is  ordered  to  wait  until  the  rest  also  go  to  bed. 

B.  I  seem  to  see  a  Platonic  city. 

A.  Then  each  is  shown  to  his  rest,  and  it  is  truly  nothing  more 
than  a  bed-chamber ;  for  there  is  nothing  there  but  a  bed,  and 
nothing  else  that  you  can  use  or  steal. 


62  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

B.  Is  there  cleanliness  ? 

A.  Just  as  at  dinner;  linen  washed  six  months  ago,  perhaps. 

B.  In  the  meantime  what  had  become  of  the  horses  ? 

A.  They  were  treated  according  to  the  same  method  as  the  men. 

B.  But  do  you  get  the  same  accommodations  everywhere? 

A.  Sometimes  more  courteous,  sometimes  harsher  than  I  have 
told  you  ;  but  on  the  whole  it  is  as  I  have  said. 

B.  How  would  you  like  me  to  tell  you  how  guests  are  treated 
in  that  part  of  Italy  which  is  called  L/ombardy,  or  in  Spain,  or  in 
England  and  in  Wales?     For  the  English  have  assimilated  in 
part  the  French  and  in  part  the  German  customs,  being  a  mix- 
ture of  these  two  nations.     The  Welsh   boast  that  they  are  the 
original  English. 

A.  I  should  like  you  to  tell  me,  for  I  never  had  occasion  to  see 
them. 

B.  At  present  I  have  not  time,  for  the  sailor  told  me  to  meet 
him  at  the  third  hour,  or  I  should  be  left  behind  ;  and  he  has  my 
baggage.     Some  other  time  we  shall   have   an   opportunity  of 
chatting  to  our  hearts'  content. 

ULRICH  VON  HUT  TEN. 

Ulrich  von  Hutten  (1488-1523)  was  born  in  the  castle  of  Steckelberg,  in 
Franconia,  of  the  knightly  class,  and  was  destined,  on  account  of  his  slight 
stature  and  delicate  health,  for  the  church.  He  broke  through  the  parental 
plans,  however,  and  gave  himself  to  a  life  of  literary  effort.  Von  Hutten's 
career  was  full  of  adventure  and  disorder,  and  lacked  purpose,  until  his  asso- 
ciation with  the  Reformers  turned  his  ardent  energies  into  a  distinct  channel. 
With  all  the  impetuosity  of  his  race  he  took  up  the  cudgels  against  the 
papacy.  Although  co-operating  with  Luther,  von  Hutten's  interests  were 
never  doctrinal,  but  economic  and  political.  He  looked  forward  to  a  united 
Germany,  in  which  the  emperor,  with  the  free  knights  at  his  back,  should 
sweep  away  the  territorial  barriers  to  his  power,  and  rid  the  land  of  the  Italian 
yoke  as  well.  Although  he  contributed  much  to  the  advancement  of  the  Luth- 
eran movement  in  its  early  and  critical  stage,  yet  it  was  well  for  him  and  for 
the  Reformers  that  he  passed  away  before  the  movement  came  to  be  defined. 
He  would  have  had  little  sympathy  with  its  doctrinal  tendencies,  or  with  that 
alliance  with  the  decentralizing  forces  in  the  empire,  which  alone  assured  its 
success. 

INSPICIENTES.1 
(Sol,  traversing  the  heavens  in  company  with  Phaeton,  his  son,  having 

HThe  On-lookers.)  Ulrichi  Hutteni  equitis  Gerrnani  opera.  Ed.  E. 
Bocking,  Vol.  IV.  Lips.  1860. 


ULRICH  VON    HUTTEN.  63 

finished  theuphill  journey,  employs  his  leisure  in  discussing  with  his  young 
companion  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Germans,  over  whose  land  his 
chariot  is  now  passing.  Beneath  him  is  Augsburg,  where  the  diet  of  1518 
has  just  been  assembled,  whither  Caietano,  legate  of  pope  Leo  X.,  has  been 
sent  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  a  trifling  controversy  which  has  lately 
broken  out  at  Wittenberg.  The  habitual  drunkenness  of  the  Germans  has 
just  been  mentioned  with  regret. ) 

Sol.  This  fault  is  inborn  with  them,  as  deceit  with  the  Italians, 
thievery  with  the  Spaniards,  pride  with  the  French,  and  other 
vices  with  other  peoples. 

Phaeton.  If  indeed  they  must  have  a  fault,  I  should  rather  they 
would  have  this  one  than  those  you  have  just  mentioned.  I  hope, 
however,  that  time,  which  mends  all  human  faults,  will  remove 
this  as  well.  But  let  us  turn  our  attention  again  to  the  Reichstag 
and  the  Pope's  legate,  for  he  (just  look,  father!)  is  moved  to 
anger  and  heated  with  rage.  Now  he  is  shouting  out  something 
to  us  from  his  place  in  the  procession;  and  I  really  believe  that  he 
is  angry  at  us  ;  for  he  is  looking  this  way. 

Sol.  Yes,  he  is  enraged  at  me.  Listen,  then,  to  what  the  little 
fellow  says,  as  with  wrinkled  brow  and  haught)'  air  he  threatens 
me. 

Caietan.  Here,  you!  At  my  merest  suggestion,  not  to  speak  of 
my  command,  you  ought  to  shine  clearer  and  brighter  than  you 
have  been  doing! 

Sol.  What's  that  you  say,  legate  ?  What's  that  you  say  ?  Is 
this  the  way  you  talk  to  me  ? 

Caietan.  To  you!  As  though  you  did  not  know  you  were 
guilty  of  a  great  crime  ! 

Sol.  In  truth  I  do  not.  Tell  me  then,  what  evil  thing  have  I 
done? 

Caietan.  I'll  tell  you  then.  So  you  are  coming  out  a  little,  you 
rascal  ?  You  are  shedding  your  rays  upon  the  world  ?  You  who 
ought,  upon  my  slightest  hint  (let  alone  my  command)  to  shine 
clearer  and  brighter  than  you  do. 

Sol.  I  don't  see  yet,  what  evil  I  have  done. 

Caietan.  You  don't  see?  You  who  for  ten  whole  days  have 
shed  no  beam  of  your  brightness;  you  who  have  obstinately 
wrapped  yourself  in  clouds,  as  though  you  begrudged  the  world 
your  light. 

Sol.  That  is  the  fault  of  the  astrologers  and  star-gazers,  if  it  is 


64  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

anybody's  fault,  for  they  with  their  prognostications  have  ar- 
ranged that  I  should  not  shine  during  this  time. 

Caietan.  But  you  should  have  considered  what  would  be 
agreeable  to  a  legate  of  the  pope  rather  than  what  would 
please  the  star-gazers.  Don't  you  know  what  I  promised  you, 
when  I  left  Italy,  if  you  did  not  warm  up  the  German  lands, 
which  are  so  unseasonably  cold,  and  make  them  quite  summer- 
like  for  me,  so  that  I  should  have  no  need  to  wish  myself  back 
in  Italy  ? 

Sol.  I  paid  no  attention  to  your  orders ;  for  it  has  never  been 
my  opinion  that  mortal  man  could  command  the  sun. 

Caietan.  It  hasn't  been  your  opinion?  Perhaps  you  are  not 
aware  that  a  Roman  bishop  (who  has  in  this  instance  endowed 
me  with  all  his  powers)  has  the  power  to  bind  and  loose  whate'er 
he  will,  in  heaven  and  on  earth  ? 

Sol.  I  have  heard  of  it,  but  I  did  not  believe  that  what  he 
claimed  was  true,  for  I  have  never  known  a  mortal  man  to  change 
anything  up  here. 

Caietan.  What  ?  You  do  not  believe  it  ?  Perverted  Christian 
that  you  are,  they  ought  to  put  you  under  the  ban  and  hand  you 
over  to  the  devil  for  a  heretic. 

Sol.  Would  you  cast  me  out  of  heaven  and  give  me  over  to  the 
devil,  and,  so  to  speak,  blot  the  sun  out  of  the  skies? 

Caietan.  Indeed  I  will  do  it,  if  you  do  not  quickly  confess  to 
one  of  my  secretaries  and  seek  absolution  from  me. 

Sol.  When  I  have  confessed,  what  will  you  do  with  me  then? 

Caietan.  I  shall  lay  a  penalty  upon  you,  that  you  may  hunger 
with  fastings,  or  perform  some  difficult  task,  or  tire  yourself  with 
pilgrimages,  or  give  alms,  or  contribute  something  toward  the 
Turkish  war,  or  give  money  for  an  indulgence,  wherewith  the 
cathedral  of  St.  Peter,  which  now  is  fallen  into  ruins  at  Rome, 
may  be  rebuilt ;  or  if  you  wish  to  save  your  money,  that  you  be 
scourged  with  rods  for  your  sins. 

Sol.  That  is  rather  severe.  What  will  }*ou  do  with  me  after 
that? 

Caietan.  Then  I  will  absolve  you  and  make  you  clean. 

Sol.  Thus,  as  the  proverb  runs,  you  will  brighten  up  the  sun  ? 

Caietan.  Yes,  I  will  do  that,  if  it  please  me,  by  virtue  of  the 
powers  which  the  tenth  Leo  has  conferred  upon  me. 

Sol.  What  trickery  do  I  hear!     Do  you  mean  to  say,  that  any 


ULRICH  VON    HUTTEN.  65 

one,  even  amongst  mortals,  is  silly  enough  to  believe  you  have 
this  power?  Not  to  speak  of  the  sun,  that  has  oversight  upon 
all.  You  had  better  go  and  take  a  dose  of  hellebore;  for  it  seems 
to  me  you  are  losing  your  mind. 

Caietan.  "  Losing  my  mind!  "  You  are  de facto  under  the  ban; 
for  you  have  spoken  disrespectfully  to  the  Pope's  legate,  whereby 
you  have  fallen  into  great  and  intolerable  damnation.  Therefore 
will  I  shortly  proclaim  you  publicly  and  with  all  the  pomp  of  a 
great  assembly  under  the  ban,  because  you  have  angered  me. 

Phaeton.  Father,  I  should  scorn  this  arrogance.  What  may  a 
wretched  mortal  do  against  immortal  creatures  ? 

Sol.  Let  us  rather  treat  him  with  contempt.  He  is  indeed  to- 
be  pitied,  for  he  has  gone  mad  through  illness. 

Phaeton.  What  sort  of  illness  ? 

Sol.  He  is  sick  with  greed.  Since  the  matter  which  he  has 
in  hand  in  Germany  will  not  come  his  way,  he  has  fallen  into 
a  rage  and  lost  his  mind  in  consequence.  But  I  am  disposed  to 
chaff  him  further.  What  say  you,  holy  father?  Would  you  con- 
demn me  unheard  and  guiltless  ? 

Caietan.  Just  as  I  have  said.  It  is  not  customary  to  permit  all 
those  to  have  a  hearing,  who  have  been  condemned  by  the  Pope 
and  his  legates. 

Sol.  That  would  be  wrong,  however,  if  anybody  but  you  should 
do  it.  But  be  gracious,  I  beseech  you,  and  forgive  me  my  sins 
just  this  once. 

Caietan.  Now  you  are  talking  properly;  for  whoever  will  not  be 
damned,  must  sue  for  grace.  Wherefore  I  command  you,  to  look 
out  for  me,  wherever  I  may  be  ;  and  now,  so  long  as  I  remain  in 
Germany,  to  make  good  weather,  and  by  virtue  of  your  heat  to 
banish  that  cold  which  tortures  me  yet  even  in  the  month  of  July. 

Sol.  Why  don't  you  put  the  cold  under  the  ban  ? 

Caietan.  That  is  worth  thinking  of;  but  you  attend  to  that 
which  I  command. 

Sol.  I  should  have  done  this  before,  but  I  thought  that  you 
were  engaged  in  some  secret  undertaking  which  you  did  not  wish 
these  ordinary  German  people  to  see.  Wherefore  I  feared  that  if 
I  should  shine  brightly,  and  display  these  secrets  of  yours  to  the 
eyes  of  the  people,  your  affairs  might  miscarry. 

Caietan.  How  could  you  show  my  secret  affairs  to  others,  when 
you  do  not  know  them  yourself? 
5 


66  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

Sol.  I  don't  know  them  ?  Do  you  think  I  don't  know  that  your 
present  wish  is  to  prevent  Charles  from  being  chosen  Roman 
King  in  accordance  with  the  desires  of  his  subjects?  That  you 
have  many  other  things  under  way,  in  which,  if  the  Germans 
knew,  they  would  no  longer  assist  you,  but  would  hate  you  with 
a  deadly  hatred. 

Caietan.  L,et  them  hate  me,  for  they  must  fear  me  too.  I  have 
indeed  not  wished  to  have  you  disclose  such  things.  Moreover, 
if  you  do  it,  you  are  under  the  ban. 

Sol.  What  a  tyrant  you  are,  to  be  sure  ! 

Caietan.  Furthermore,  I  command  you  that  you  shall  direct 
your  arrow  and  shoot  pestilence  and  sudden  death  amongst  the 
Germans,  in  order  that  many  benefices  and  spiritual  fiefs  may  be- 
come vacant,  that  pensions  ma)'  accrue  and  money  flow  to  Rome, 
and  something  of  all  this  shall  be  mine.  For  it  is  now  a  long 
time  since  clerics  have  been  dying  frequently  enough  in  Ger- 
many. Do  you  hear  what  I  tell  you  ? 

Sol.  Perfectly. 

Caietan.  But  first  of  all  shoot  at  the  bishops,  that  the  pallia 
may  be  bought.  Then  hit  the  provosts  and  the  wealthy  prelates, 
in  order  that  the  Pope's  new  creatures  may  have  wherewith  to 
live  ;  for  they  must  be  considered  each  according  to  his  rank,  in 
order  that  they  may  want  nothing. 

Sol.  In  order  that  I  may  bring  about  a  pestilence  it  will  be 
necessary  to  bring  on  clouds,  to  drop  a  mist  upon  the  earth  and 
darken  the  atmosphere ;  wherefore  I  fear  that  this  bad  weather 
will  displease  you. 

Caietan.  Well,  I  prefer  that  the  pestilence  should  lake  place,  so 
that  the  benefices  may  be  vacant.  So  far  as  the  atmosphere  is 
concerned,  darken  it  as  little  as  you  may  ;  but  if  you  cannot  avoid 
it,  do  what  is  best  and  most  useful. 

Phaeton.  O  miserable  rascal !  Now  for  the  first  time  1  perceive 
where  the  shoe  pinches,  what  pleases  and  displeases  him,  what 
makes  him  sad,  what,  joyful.  Let  the  stream  flow  to  his  desire, 
and  he  can  endure  all  kinds  of  air,  cold  and  bad  weather.  I  will 
address  him.  Listen,  wretched  man.  A  shepherd  should  pas- 
ture his  sheep,  not  murder  them. 

Caietan.  What  say  you,  church-thief?  What  say  you,  wicked 
driver?  You,  whom  I  shall  crush  and  crunch  in  a  moment  with 
my  curse.  Will  you  seek  to  hinder  my  affairs  ! 


LETTERS   OF  OBSCURE  MEN.  67 

Phaeton.  Indeed,  I  certainly  shall,  if  I  am  able.  For  why  do 
you  seek  to  kill  those  from  whom  you  are  forcing  money  in  every 
way  without  this  means? 

Caietan.  You  accursed  one,  you  malefactor,  you  condemned,  a 
son  of  Satan,  how  dare  you  yelp  against  me?  Is  it  wrong  that  a 
shepherd  should  shear  his  sheep  ? 

Phaeton.  That  he  should  shear  them  is  not  wrong;  for  the  good 
shepherds  do  that  as  wrell;  but  they  do  not  kill  and  flay  them. 
Tell  that  to  your  Pope  Leo,  and  say  to  him  as  well,  that  if  he 
does  not  send  henceforth  more  temperate  legates  into  Germany, 
he  will  some  day  see  a  conspiracy  of  the  sheep  against  an  unjust, 
harsh  and  bloodthirsty  shepherd,  and  they  will  perhaps  do  a  deed 
that  is  both  right  and  merited.  Already  indeed  they  sing  and 
talk  about  you,  and  it  is  my  opinion  that  they  will  no  longer 
tolerate  you,  not  even  if  you  should  send  wagons  full  of  excom- 
munications against  them  across  the  mountains. 

Caietan.  You  are  letting  out  a  thing  that  should  not  be  talked 
about.  Wherefore  be  you  excommunicated!  I  lay  this  punish- 
ment upon  you  for  the  discourteous,  thoughtless  talk  which  you 
have  addressed  to  me. 

Phaeton.  Then  I  leave  you,  an  object  of  derision  to  the  Ger- 
mans, whom  you  are  in  the  habit  of  plundering;  and  may  they 
drive  you  hence  with  ridicule  and  abuse,  even  handle  you 
roughly,  and  so  use  you,  that  you  may  be  an  example  to  pos- 
terity. Scorn  be  upon  you!  Thus  I  punish  you. 

Sol.  Cease  with  your  scurrility;  it  is  time  to  guide  our  car  down 
the  slope  and  make  way  for  the  evening  star.  Let  him  lie,  cheat, 
steal,  rob  and  plunder  at  his  own  risk. 

Phaeton.  The  devil  fly  away  with  him!     Come,  then,  I  will 
prick  up  the  steeds  and  get  us  hence. 
Jacta  est  alea. 

LETTERS  OF  OBSCURE  MEN.1 

Johannes  Pfefferkorn,  a  converted  Jew  of  Cologne,  desiring  to  give  evi- 
dence of  his  zeal  for  the  Christian  faith,  secured  from  the  emperor  Maxi- 
milian I.  an  order  which  called  for  the  suppression  and  destruction  of  all 
rabbinical  writings,  as  hostile  to  Christianity.  It  was  the  belief  of  German 
humanists  that  Pfefferkorn  was  nothing  more  than  the  instrument  of  the 
Dominicans  at  Cologne,  who  sought  in  this  manner  to  counteract  the  grow- 

1  Epistolae  obscurorum  yirorum,  Ed.  Bucking,  Leipzig,  1864,  passim. 


68  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

ing  interest  in  the  study  of  Hebrew.  The  archbishop  of  Mainz  suspended 
the  execution  of  the  order  until  the  matter  could  be  more  thoroughly  in- 
vestigated. Opinions  regarding  the  value  of  the  Hebrew  writings  were 
requested  from  several  universities,  from  Jacob  von  Hochstraten,  papal  in- 
quisitor at  Cologne,  and  from  Johann  Reuchlin.  Of  these,  Reuchlin  alone 
went  deeply  into  the  subject.  His  report  was  favorable  to  the  Hebrew  writ- 
ings as  a  whole,  excepting  certain  ones  which  dealt  in  witchcraft  or  were 
abusive  of  Christian  doctrine.  These  he  considered  worthy  of  extinction. 
In  general,  however,  he  was  unfavorable  to  this  method  of  combatting  error, 
and  suggested  the  foundation  in  each  university  of  a  chair  of  Hebrew,  for 
the  better  understanding  of  these  works.  Other  opinions  were  unfavorable, 
and  thus  Reuchlin  stood  alone  as  the  champion  of  Hebrew  lore  and  the 
defender,  in  this  particular,  of  the  claims  of  humanism. 

Pfefferkorn  continued  to  be  the  instrument  of  the  Cologne  party.  His 
Handspiegel,  which  he  sold,  with  his  wife's  help,  at  the  great  Frankfort  fair 
of  1511,  was  a  violent  attack  upon  Reuchlin,  who  replied  in  the  Augen- 
spiegel,  which  in  turn  elicited  a  Brandspiegel  from  his  detractor.  The  con- 
troversy was  seasoned  on  both  sides  with  the  violent  abuse  of  the  time.  The 
faculty  of  Cologne  condemned  the  Augenspiegel  as  heretical  in  1513.  The 
University  of  Paris  followed  in  1514.  Reuchlin  was  cited  before  the  tribunal 
of  the  inquisition,  and  although  his  case  was  transferred  to  the  curia,  his 
book  was  publicly  burned.  A  commission  appointed  by  Leo  X.  sat  at 
Speier  and  declared  Reuchlin  free  of  heresy,  adjudging  the  costs  to  Hoch- 
straten, whereupon  the  inquisitor  proceeded  to  Rome,  well  supplied  with 
funds,  and  secured  a  reversal  of  the  decision.  A  protest  of  Reuchlin  sus- 
pended execution,  and  the  matter  drifted  on  in  the  curia  without  result. 

But  the  case,  if  silenced  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  was  taken  up  before 
the  bar  of  public  opinion.  Reuchlin,  feeling  the  need  of  public  rehabilita- 
tion, published  in  1514  a  book  containing  a  selection  of  letters  of  sympathy 
addressed  to  him  by  men  of  note  in  the  world  of  humanism.  This  was  the 
Clarorum  virorum  epistolae  etc.  The  title  proved  a  source  of  inspiration  for 
certain  waggish  scholars,  humanists,  and  partisans  of  Reuchlin,  whose 
identity  even  at  this  time  is  imperfectly  known.  In  15 15  appeared  at  Hagenau 
the  first  series  of  letters,  known  as  the  Epistolae  virorum  obscurorum. 
The  letters  are  addressed  for  the  most  part  to  Ortuin  Gratius,  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  faculty  at  Cologne,  a  man  of  high  attainments  and  of  ability 
as  an  author.  The  writers  of  the  letters  are  supposed  to  be  clergymen,  at 
Rome  and  elsewhere,  who  seek  or  desire  to  impart  information  regarding 
the  Reuchlin  affair,  or  who  appeal  to  Gratius  to  settle  some  point  of  dispute. 
The  general  effort  of  the  letters  is  to  expose  the  ignorance  and  baseness  of 
the  clergy  and  to  throw  ridicule  upon  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Cologne  party. 
It  is  a  part  of  the  internal  protest  against  the  bigotry  and  shortcomings  of 
the  clergy,  a  protest  that  became  schismatic  only  under  the  lead  of  Luther. 
The  letters  are  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  half  a  dozen  men;  but  among 
them  the  most  prominent  are  Crotus  Rubeanus  (1480-1540)  and  Ulrich  von 
Hutten. 


LETTERS   OF  OBSCURE  MEN.  69 

MASTER  JOHANNES   PELUFEX   PRESENTS   HIS  GREETING  TO   MASTER 
ORTUIN  GRATIUS. 

Friendly  greeting  and  endless  service,  most  worthy  Master! 
Since,  as  Aristotle  says  in  the  Categories,  it  is  not  wholly  useless 
in  certain  cases  to  give  way  to  doubt,  I  will  confess  that  a  certain 
thing  is  lying  heavily  on  my  conscience.  Not  long  ago  I  was  at 
the  Frankfort  fair,  and,  while  walking  along  the  street  toward 
the  market  with  a  bachelor,  we  met  two  men  who,  to  all  appear- 
ances, were  quite  respectable;  they  wore  black  cloaks  and  great 
hoods  with  tassels  hanging  down  behind.  God  is  my  witness 
that  I  believed  they  were  two  masters,  and  I  greeted  them,  there- 
fore, with  reverence.  Then  the  bachelor  slapped  me  on  the  back 
and  said:  "For  the  love  of  God,  what  are  you  doing?  They 
are  Jews,  and  you  have  taken  off  your  hat  to  them!"  At  this 
such  a  fright  seized  me  as  if  I  had  seen  the  devil,  and  I  answered: 
' '  Sir  Baccalaureus,  God  have  mercy  upon  me.  I  have  done  it  in 
ignorance;  so  what  do  you  think;  is  that  a  grievous  sin?"  Then 
at  first  he  said:  "  According  to  my  view  it  is  a  mortal  sin,  since  it 
comes  under  the  head  of  idolatry,  and  therefore  violates  the  first 
of  the  ten  commandments,  which  says,  '  I  believe  in  one  God;' 
because,  if  any  one  honors  a  Jew  or  a  heathen  as  if  he  were  a 
Christian,  he  acts  against  Christendom,  and  puts  himself  in  the 
position  of  a  Jew  or  heathen,  and  then  the  Jews  and  heathen  say: 
'  See  how  we  are  progressing,  since  the  Christians  honor  us;  for 
if  we  were  not  progressing,  surely  they  would  not  honor  us;'  and 
in  this  way  they  are  strengthened  in  their  evil  ways,  despise  the 
Christian  faith  and  refuse  baptism."  Upon  this  I  answered: 
"That  is  very  true,  if  the  thing  be  done  knowingly,  but  I  have 
done  it  unknowingly,  and  ignorance  excuses  sin;  for  had  I  known 
that  they  were  Jews,  and  then  had  shown  them  respect,  then  I 
should  have  deserved  the  gallows,  because  that  would  be  a  heresy. 
But  neither  by  word  nor  deed — God  knows — had  I  any  knowledge 
whatsoever,  for  I  believed  they  were  two  masters."  Then  he 
answered:  "It  is  nevertheless  a  sin,"  and  related  the  following: 
"  I  too  went  once  through  a  church,  where  a  Jew,  made  of  wood, 
with  a  hammer  in  his  hand,  stood  before  our  Saviour.  I  believed, 
however,  that  it  was  St.  Peter,  and  that  he  had  the  key  in  his 
hand;  so  I  bent  my  knee  and  took  off  my  cap.  Then  for  the  first 
time  I  saw  that  it  was  a  Jew,  and  this  made  me  very  sad  and  re- 
pentant. But  at  confession,  which  I  made  in  the  Dominican  con- 


7<D  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

vent,  my  father  confessor  told  me  that  it  was  a  mortal  sin,  since 
you  must  be  on  your  guard.  He  would  not  have  been  able  to 
give  me  absolution  if  he  had  not  had  episcopal  powers,  for  it  was 
a  case  reserved  to  the  bishop;  he  also  added  that  if  I  had  done  it 
intentionally,  it  would  have  been  a  case  for  the  pope.  So  I  was 
absolved  because  he  had  episcopal  powers.  And,  really,  I  believe 
that  if  you  would  keep  your  conscience  clear,  you  must  confess  to 
the  officer  of  the  consistory.  Ignorance  cannot  excuse  your  sin, 
for  you  should  have  taken  care.  The  Jews  have  always  a  yellow 
ring  on  the  front  of  their  cloaks,  which  you  certainly  ought  to 
have  seen,  for  I  saw  it;  so  it  is  gross  ignorance  on  your  part, 
and  cannot  effect  forgiveness  of  sins."  Thus  reasoned  in  my  case 
this  bachelor.  But,  since  you  are  a  deeply-read  theologian,  I 
want  to  ask  you  earnestly  and  humbly  that  you  will  solve  the 
above  question  for  me,  and  write  me  whether  it  is  a  question  here 
of  a  mortal  or  venial  sin;  whether  it  is  a  simple  case,  or  an  epis- 
copal, or  a  papal  reserved  case.  Also  write  me  whether,  according 
to  your  view,  the  citizens  of  Frankfort  do  right  that  they  permit, 
in  this  wise,  Jews  to  go  about  in  the  garb  of  our  masters.  It 
seems  to  me  that  it  is  not  right,  and  likely  to  arouse  great  bitter- 
ness, that  there  should  be  no  distinction  between  the  Jews  and 
our  masters;  also,  it  is  a  mockery  of  the  sacred  theology,  and  the 
most  excellent  Emperor  and  lord  ought  not  to  permit  that  a  Jew, 
who  is  at  the  best  only  a  dog  and  an  enemy  of  Christ,  should  go 
about  like  a  doctor  of  the  sacred  theology.  I  also  send  you  a 
composition  of  Master  Bernhard  Plumilegus  (in  common  lan- 
guage, Federleser),  which  he  has  sent  to  me  from  Wittenberg. 
You  know  him,  for  he  was  your  fellow  scholar  at  Deventer.  He 
told  me  that  you  had  jolly  times  together;  he  is  a  good  fellow  and 
cannot  praise  you  enough.  Then  farewell,  in  the  Lord's  name. 
Given  at  Leipzig. 

NICOLAUS  CAPRIMULGIUS,  BACCAI.AUREUS,  TO   MASTER  ORTUIN  GRATIUS. 

Many  greetings,  with  deep  respect  to  your  excellence,  as  is  my 
duty  in  writing  to  your  Mastership.  Most  worthy  Master,  you 
must  know  that  there  is  a  most  important  question,  in  regard  to 
which  I  desire  and  beseech  a  decision  from  your  Mastership. 
There  is  here  a  certain  Greek  who,  when  he  writes  Greek,  always 
puts  accents  over  the  words.  Recently  I  had  occasion  to  say: 
"  Master  Ortuin,  from  Deventer,  also  dealt  with  Greek  grammar, 


LETTERS  OF  OBSCURE  MEN.  Jl 

and  understood  it  quite  as  well  as  this  man,  and  he  never  wrote 
the  accents,  and  I  know  that  he  understood  what  he  was  doing 
quite  as  well  as  this  man,  and  could  have  excelled  the  Greek  if 
he  had  desired."  But  the  others  would  not  believe  me,  and  my 
comrades  and  colleagues  besought  me  to  write  your  lordship  that 
you  might  instruct  me  as  to  how  it  ought  to  be,  whether  you 
ought  to  put  the  accents  there  or  not.  If  not,  then  we  will  make 
it  so  hot  for  the  Greek  that  he  will  feel  it,  and  we  will  bring  it 
about  that  he  shall  have  few  listeners.  I  remember  to  have  seen, 
when  I  was  with  you  in  Cologne  at  the  house  of  Heinrich 
Quentel,  where  you  were  proof-reader  and  had  to  correct  Greek, 
that  you  drew  your  pen  through  all  accents  that  stood  above  the 
letters,  with  these  words:  "What  is  this  foolishness?"  And  so 
it  occurred  to  me  that  you  had  some  reason  for  this,  otherwise 
you  would  not  have  done  it.  You  are  a  marvellous  man,  and 
God  has  imparted  to  you  the  great  grace  to  know  something  of 
everything  knowable.  Therefore,  you  must  give  thanks  to  God 
the  Lord,  to  the  blessed  Virgin  and  to  all  God's  saints  in  your 
poetry.  Take  it  not  evil  of  me  that  I  trouble  your  excellence 
with  questions  of  this  nature,  since  I  do  it  for  my  instruction. 
Farewell.  Leipzig. 

MASTER  JOHANNES  HIPP  TO   MASTER  ORTUIN   GRATIUS,    GREETING. 

"Rejoice  in  the  Lord,  O  ye  just:  praise  becometh  the  up- 
right" (Psalms  xxxii.  n).  In  order  that  you  may  not  say  in 
anger,  "What  does  he  want  with  his  quotation?"  you  must 
hasten  to  read  a  piece  of  joyful  news,  which  will  wonderfully  re- 
joice your  excellence  and  which  I  will  briefly  relate.  There  was 
here  a  poet,  by  name  Johannes  Sommerfeld;  he  was  very  arro- 
gant, looked  down  upon  masters  of  arts  and  made  little  of  them 
in  his  lectures,  saying  that  they  were  ignorant,  that  one  poet  was 
worth  ten  masters,  and  that  in  processions  it  was  proper  that 
poets  should  have  precedence  over  masters  and  licentiates.  He 
lectured  on  Pliny  and  other  authors,  and  expressed  himself  to  the 
effect  that  the  masters  of  arts  were  not  masters  of  the  seven 
liberal  arts,  but  rather  of  the  seven  deadly  sins;  that  they  stood 
upon  no  good  foundation,  since  they  were  not  learned  in  poetics, 
but  knew  only  Petrus  Hispanus  and  the  Parva  logicalia.  He  had 
many  listeners,  and  among  them  noble  bursars,  and  he  said  there 
was  nothing  in  the  Scotists  and  the  Thomists,  and  made  sport  of 


72  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

the  holy  teachers.  The  masters  waited  for  convenient  opportunity 
to  avenge  themselves,  with  the  help  of  God,  and  it  was  the  divine 
will  that  he  held  a  discourse  wherein  he  scored  masters,  doctors, 
licentiates  and  bachelors,  praised  his  own  branch  and  spoke 
slightingly  of  the  holy  theology.  In  this  manner  he  aroused 
great  anger  on  the  part  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  faculty.  The 
masters  and  doctors  took  counsel  and  said:  "What  shall  we  do? 
This  man  is  behaving  in  a  shocking  manner;  if  we  let  him  go  on 
in  this  way  the  world  will  believe  he  is  more  learned  than  we. 
Let  not  these  upstarts  come  and  say  they  are  of  more  importance 
than  their  elders,  and  in  this  way  bring  shame  and  ridicule  upon 
our  university."  Then  said  Master  Andreas  Delitzsch,  who, 
moreover,  is  a  good  poet,  that  it  seemed  to  him  that  Sommerfeld 
was,  in  respect  to  the  university,  somewhat  like  the  fifth  wheel  to 
a  wagon,  because  he  stood  in  the  way  of  the  other  faculties,  by 
whose  aid  the  academic  youth  might  be  suitably  prepared  for 
graduation.  The  other  masters  swore  that  this  was  so,  and  the 
result  was  that  they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  this  poet  should 
be  expelled,  or,  at  least,  shut  out,  even  if  thereby  they  should 
draw  upon  themselves  his  enmity.  They  summoned  him  before 
the  rector,  and  posted  the  summons  on  the  church  doors;  he  ap- 
peared with  counsel,  demanded  the  privilege  of  defending  himself, 
and  was  accompanied  with  other  friends,  who  stood  by  him. 
The  masters  demanded  that  these  should  retire,  otherwise  they 
would  be  forsworn  if  they  appeared  against  the  university.  In- 
deed, the  masters  showed  themselves  full  of  courage  in  this 
struggle;  they  remained  firm,  and  vowed  that  in  the  interests  of 
justice  they  would  spare  no  one.  Certain  jurists  and  courtiers 
plead  for  him.  To  these  the  masters  replied  that  it  was  not  pos- 
sible; they  had  their  statutes,  and  according  to  these  statutes  he 
must  be  dismissed.  What  was  remarkable  is,  that  the  prince 
himself  (Duke  George)  interceded  for  him.  It  did  no  good,  how- 
ever, for  they  said  to  the  Duke  that  it  was  his  duty  to  uphold  the 
statutes  of  the  university,  for  the  statutes  are  to  the  university 
what  the  binding  is  to  a  book;  were  there  no  binding,  then  the 
leaves  would  fall  apart,  and  were  there  no  statutes  there  would  be 
no  order  in  the  university;  dissension  would  reign  amongst  its 
members  and  result  in  complete  chaos.  Therefore,  the  prince 
must  look  out  for  the  best  interests  of  the  university,  as  his  father 
had  done  before  him.  In  this  wise  the  prince  allowed  himself  to 


LETTERS  OF  OBSCURE   MEN.  73 

be  persuaded,  and  declared  he  could  not  stand  out  against  the 
university,  and  that  it  was  better  for  one  to  be  dismissed  than 
that  the  whole  university  should  suffer.  The  masters  were  much 
pleased  with  this,  and  said:  "  My  lord  Duke,  God  be  thanked  for 
your  wise  decision."  Then  the  rector  caused  an  order  to  be 
posted  upon  the  church  doors,  to  the  effect  that  Sommerfeld  was 
retired  for  ten  years.  His  auditors,  however,  expressed  them- 
selves variously  in  the  matter,  and  said  that  the  members  of  the 
council  had  done  wrong  toward  Sommerfeld;  but  these  gentlemen 
replied  in  turn  that  they  did  not  care  a  penny's  worth.  Certain 
bursars  expressed  themselves  to  the  effect  that  Sommerfeld  would 
revenge  himself  for  the  insult  and  would  summon  the  university 
before  the  Roman  curia.  Then  the  masters  laughed  and  said: 
"Nonsense;  what  would  the  fellow  accomplish?"  And  know 
that  great  harmony  now  reigns  in  the  university,  and  Master 
Delitzsch  lectures  on  the  humanities,  and  also  the  master  from 
Rothenburg,  who  has  written  a  book  quite  three  times  as  large  as 
Virgil's  complete  works.  He  has  gotten  together  much  of  value 
in  this  book  in  defence  of  our  holy  mother  church  and  in  praise  of 
the  saints;  he  has  recommended  especially  our  university,  both 
the  sacred  theology  and  the  humanistic  faculty,  and  he  blames 
those  worldly  and  heathen  poets.  The  masters  also  say  that  his 
poems  are  as  good  as  the  poems  of  Virgil,  and  are  without  errors; 
for  he  perfectly  understands  the  art  of  writing  verse  and  has  been 
a  good  versifier  for  the  past  twenty  years.  Wherefore,  the  gentle- 
men of  the  council  gave  him  permission  to  lecture  on  this  book 
instead  of  on  Terence,  for  it  is  more  valuable  than  Terence,  and 
inculcates  good  Christian  doctrine,  and  does  not  deal  with  harlots 
and  scalawags,  like  Terence.  You  must  spread  this  news  in  your 
university,  and  perhaps  it  will  happen  to  Busch  as  it  has  hap- 
pened to  Sommerfeld.  When  are  )TOU  going  to  send  me  your 
book  against  Reuchlin  ?  You  often  mention  it,  but  nothing  has 
come  to  me  yet.  You  have  written  me  you  would  be  sure  to  send 
it,  but  you  have  not  done  so.  May  God  forgive  you,  since  you 
do  not  love  me  as  I  love  you,  for  you  are  to  me  as  my  own  heart. 
But  send  it  to  me,  for  "I  have  greatly  desired  to  eat  this  Paschal 
lamb  with  you  " — that  is  to  say,  to  read  this  book.  Also  write 
me  the  news,  and  compose  an  essay  or  a  few  verses  to  my  honor, 
if  I  be  worth  the  trouble.  Fare  you  well  in  Christ  the  Lord  our 
God,  from  everlasting  unto  everlasting!  Amen. 


74  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN    RENAISSANCE. 

BROTHER   SIMON  WURST,    DOCTOR   OF  SACRED   THEOLOGY,    TO   MASTER 
ORTUIN  GRATIUS,    GREETING. 

Since  the  defence  of  Johannes  Pfefferkorn  "against  the  calum- 
nies, etc.,"  which  he  composed  in  Latin  has  been  received  here,  we 
have  had  something  new  every  day.  One  says  this,  another  that; 
one  is  for  him,  another  for  Reuchlin;  one  defends,  another  con- 
demns him;  it  is  a  desperate  struggle,  and  they  are  angry  enough 
to  come  to  blows.  If  I  should  relate  to  you  all  the  feuds  that 
have  arisen  out  of  this  book,  the  period  of  an  Olympiad  would 
not  suffice,  so  I  will  merely  make  a  few  remarks  by  the  way. 
The  majority,  and  for  the  most  part  the  worldly  masters,  the 
presbyters  and  brethren  of  the  Minorites  assert  that  Pfefferkorn 
could  not  possibly  be  the  author  of  the  book,  for  he  has  never 
learned  a  word  of  Latin.  I  replied  that  this  objection  had  no 
force,  although  it  has  been  urged  against  many  prominent  men  to 
this  very  day,  but  unjustly;  for  Johannes  Pfefferkorn,  who  always 
carries  pen  and  ink  with  him,  could  write  down  what  he  hears, 
whether  it  be  in  public  lectures,  or  in  private  assemblies,  or  when 
students  or  brethren  from  the  Dominican  order  come  to  his  house, 
or  when  he  goes  to  the  bath.  Holy  Lord,  how  many  sermons 
must  he  have  heard  during  twelve  years!  How  many  admonitions! 
How  many  quotations  from  the  holy  fathers!  These  he  might  re- 
tain in  his  memory,  or  he  might  communicate  them  to  his  wife,  or 
write  them  on  the  wall,  or  enter  them  in  his  diary.  In  the  same 
way  I  called  attention  briefly  to  the  fact  that  Johannes  Pfefferkorn 
says  of  himself—not  with  boasting— that  he  can  apply  to  any 
theme,  be  it  good  or  evil,  everything  that  is  contained  in  the 
Bible,  or  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  either  in  Hebrew  or  in  German; 
and  he  knows  by  heart  all  the  evangels  that  are  expounded  the 
whole  year  through,  and  can  say  them  off  to  a  letter,  a  thing 
which  those  jurists  and  poets  cannot  do.  Moreover,  he  has  a 
son,  Lorenz  by  name,  a  really  talented  young  man,  who  is  pale  as 
a  ghost  from  nothing  but  study;  and,  indeed,  I  wonder  that  his 
father  allows  him  to  pursue  his  studies  with  those  devilish  poets. 
This  son  collects  for  his  father  sentences  from  the  orators  and 
poets  upon  every  possible  subject,  as  well  those  which  he  himself 
uses  as  those  used  by  his  teachers,  and  he  also  knows  how  to  cite 
his  Hugh.  And  thus  Johannes  Pfefferkorn  has  come  to  know 
much  by  means  of  this  talented  youth;  and  what  he,  as  an  un- 
learned man,  is  not  able  to  accomplish  of  himself,  his  son  does 


LETTERS  OF  OBSCURE   MEN.  75 

for  him.  Therefore,  woe  to  all  those  who  have  spread  abroad  the 
false  report  that  he  did  not  himself  write  his  books,  but  that  the 
doctors  and  masters  in  Cologne  are  the  true  authors!  Johannes 
Reuchlin  has  reason  to  blush  and  to  sigh  to  eternity  for  having 
said  that  Johannes  Pfefferkorn  did  not  himself  compose  his 
"  Handspiegel"  whereby  it  has  been  contended  amongst  learned 
men  that  three  men  furnished  him  with  the  authorities  which  he 
cited.  Whereupon  a  certain  one  said:  "Who  are  those  men?" 
I  answered:  "  I  do  not  know.  I  believe,  however,  that  they  are 
the  same  three  men  who  appeared  to  Abraham,  as  we  read  in  the 
first  book  of  Moses."  And  when  I  had  spoken  they  laughed  at 
me  and  treated  me  as  if  I  were  a  simpleton.  I  wish  the  devil 
would  strike  them  with  a  plague,  as  is  written  in  the  book  of  Job, 
which  we  are  now  reading  at  table  in  our  monastery.  Say,  then, 
to  Johannes  Pfefferkorn,  he  must  have  patience,  for  I  hope  that 
God  will  work  a  miracle;  and  greet  him  in  my  name.  Also  greet 
for  me  his  wife,  since  you  know  her  well,  but  secretly.  Farewell. 
Written  in  haste  and  without  much  reflection,  at  Antwerp. 

MASTER   BERTHOI.D   HACKERUNG  TO   MASTER   ORTUIN   GRATIUS. 

Brotherly  love  in  the  place  of  greeting,  honored  sir!  When  I 
left  you  I  promised  that  I  would  keep  you  informed  of  all  news, 
and  let  you  know  how  I  am  getting  along.  Know,  then,  that  I 
have  been  two  months  in  the  city  of  Rome  and  have  as  yet 
secured  no  patron.  An  assessor  of  the  Roman  curia  was  disposed 
to  take  me.  I  was  quite  delighted,  and  said:  "  It  is  well,  sir,  but 
will  your  magnificence  kindly  tell  me  what  I  shall  have  to  do." 
He  answered  that  I  wrould  be  an  hostler,  and  my  duty  would  be  to 
take  care  of  a  mule,  to  feed  and  water  it,  curry  and  rub  it  down, 
and  have  it  in  readiness  when  he  wished  to  ride  forth,  with  bridle, 
saddle  and  everything.  Then  I  must  run  beside  the  mule  to  the 
court-room  and  back  home  again.  I  told  him  that  such  work  was 
not  for  me;  that  I  was  a  master  of  the  liberal  arts  in  Cologne,  and 
could  do  nothing  of  the  sort.  He  answered:  "  Well,  if  you  don't 
want  to  do  it,  it's  your  own  loss."  And  so  I  believe  I  will  go 
back  home.  I  certainly  will  not  curry  a  mule  or  clean  out  stables. 
I  had  rather  the  devil  would  fly  away  with  his  mule,  stable  and 
all!  And  I  believe,  too,  that  it  would  be  against  the  statutes  of 
our  university;  for  a  master  must  conduct  himself  like  a  master. 
And  it  would  be  a  great  disgrace  to  the  university  if  a  Cologne 


76  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

master  should  do  such  a  thing.  For  the  honor  of  the  university 
I  shall  return  home.  And,  anyway,  I  do  not  like  Rome;  the 
people  in  the  chancellery  and  in  the  curia  are  so  haughty;  you 
would  not  believe  it.  One  of  them  said  to  me  yesterday,  he 
would  spit  upon  Cologne  masters.  I  told  him  I  hoped  he  might 
have  a  chance  to  spit  on  the  gallows.  Then  he  said  he  too  was  a 
master,  that  is  to  say  a  master  of  the  curia,  and  that  a  master  of 
the  curia  stood  high  above  a  master  of  the  liberal  arts  from  Ger- 
many. I  answered:  "Impossible;"  and  said,  moreover,  "You 
mean  to  say  you  are  as  good  as  I,  when  you  have  passed  no  ex- 
amination, as  I  have,  in  which  five  masters  have  tested  me  thor- 
oughly? You  are  a  master  made  with  a  seal."  Upon  this  he 
began  to  dispute  with  me,  and  said:  "  What  is  a  master?"  I  an- 
swered: "A  person  of  proved  ability,  regularly  promoted  and 
graduated  in  the  seven  liberal  arts,  after  he  has  passed  the 
master's  examination  ;  who  has  the  right  to  wear  a  gold  ring,  and 
a  silken  band  on  his  gown,  and  who  bears  himself  toward  his 
pupils  as  a  king  toward  his  subjects.  And  magister  is  used  in 
four  senses:  In  one  sense  it  is  derived  from  magis  and  ter,  because 
a  master  knows  three  times  as  much  as  an  ordinary  person.  In 
the  second  sense  from  magis  and  terreo,  because  a  master  excites 
terror  when  his  pupils  look  upon  him.  In  the  third  sense  from 
magis  and  theron  (that  is,  status),  because  the  master  in  his  posi- 
tion must  be  higher  than  his  pupils.  In  the  fourth  sense  from 
magis  and  sedere,  because  the  master  must  sit  far  higher  than  any 
one  of  his  pupils."  Then  he  asked  me:  "Who  is  your  author- 
ity?" I  answered  that  I  had  read  it  in  the  Vade  mecum.  At 
once  he  was  disposed  to  blame  the  book,  and  said  that  it  was  no 
reliable  source.  I  answered:  "  You  discredit  those  ancients,  and 
yet  you  do  not  know  any  better.  I  have  never  heard  any  one  in 
Cologne  discredit  this  book.  Are  you  not  ashamed  of  yourself?" 
And  in  great  anger  I  left  him.  And  once  more  I  tell  you  that  I 
am  disposed  to  return  to  Germany,  for  there  the  masters  are 
gentlemen,  and  rightly  so.  This  I  can  show  from  the  gospels, 
for  Christ  called  Himself  "Master  "  and  not  "  Doctor  "  when  He 
said,  "Ye  call  me  Lord  and  Master,  and  ye  do  well,  for  such 
am  I."  But  I  cannot  write  further,  for  I  have  no  more  paper, 
and  it  is  far  to  the  Campo  Fiore.  Farewell!  Written  at  the 
Roman  curia. 


LETTERS   OF  OBSCURE   MEN.  77 

MASTER    CONRADUS     UNCKEBUNCK    TO     MASTER    ORTUIN    GRATIUS,     MANY 
GREETINGS. 

"A  mouth  have  they  and  speak  not;  eyes  have  they  and  see 
not;  ears  have  they  and  hear  not,"  says  the  Psalmist.  These 
words  may  serve  as  introduction  and  as  text  for  what  I  am  about 
to  say.  Master  Ortuin  has  a  mouth  and  speaks  not;  not  even  so 
much  as  to  say  to  a  servant  of  the  curia  on  his  way  to  Rome: 
"  Give  my  regards  to  Conrad  Unckebunck. "  Eyes  has  he  also 
and  sees  not:  for  I  have  written  him  many  letters  and  he  has  not 
answered  me,  as  if  he  read  them  not,  or  merely  glanced  at  them. 
In  the  third  place  he  has  ears  and  hears  not:  for  I  have  asked 
several  friends  to  greet  him  when  they  came  where  he  was;  but 
he  has  heard  none  of  my  greetings,  for  he  has  not  answered  them. 
In  this  you  clearly  do  wrong,  for  I  am  fond  of  you  and  you  ought 
to  be  fond  of  me  in  rtturn;  but  you  are  not,  for  you  do  not  write 
me.  I  should  be  so  glad  if  you  would  write  me,  for  when  I  read 
your  letters  my  inmost  heart  rejoices.  I  have  heard,  however, 
that  you  have  few  hearers,  and  that  your  complaint  is  that  Busch 
and  Csesarius  have  drawn  the  scholars  away  from  you;  and  yet 
they  do  not  understand  how  to  expound  the  poets  allegorical!)',  as 
you  do,  nor  how  to  quote  the  holy  writ.  I  believe  the  devil  is  in 
those  poets.  They  are  the  ruin  of  all  universities.  I  heard  a 
I/eipzig  master,  who  has  been  a  master  for  thirty-six  5rears,  say 
that  in  his  younger  days  that  university  was  in  a  nourishing  con- 
dition, because  there  was  no  poet  for  twenty  miles  round  about. 
And  he  also  said  that  the  students  diligently  prepared  their 
lessons,  as  well  the  general  as  the  professional,  and  it  was  reck- 
oned a  great  disgrace  if  a  student  went  through  the  streets  with- 
out his  Petrus  Hispanus  or  the  Parva  logicalia  under  his  arm;  and 
if  they  were  students  of  grammar  they  carried  the  Partes  of  Alex- 
ander, or  the  Vade  mccum,  or  the  Exercitium  puerorum,  or  the 
Opus  minus,  or  the  Dicta  of  Johannes  Sinthen.  Moreover,  in  the 
schools  they  gave  attention  and  held  the  masters  of  arts  in  horor, 
and  when  they  saw  a  master  they  were  as  frightened  as  if  they 
had  seen  the  devil.  And  he  said  that  the  bachelor's  degree  was 
conferred  four  times  a  year,  and  that  on  each  occasion  sixty,  or 
at  least  fifty,  degrees  were  given.  At  that  time  the  university 
was  nourishing;  if  any  one  passed  in  half  the  subjects  of  a  year's 
course  he  received  the  bachelor's  degree,  and  if  he  passed  in  half 
the  subjects  for  three  years,  a  master's  degree;  the  result  was 


78  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE  GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

that  their  parents  were  satisfied  and  willing  to  spend  their  money, 
for  they  saw  that  their  sons  were  attaining  to  honors.  But  now 
students  wished  to  hear  Virgil  and  Pliny  and  other  new-fangled 
authors,  and  when  they  have  listened  for  five  years,  even  then 
they  are  not  graduated;  and  when  they  go  back  home  their  par- 
ents ask:  "What  are  you?"  and  they  reply  that  they  are  nothing, 
but  that  they  have  studied  poetry.  But  their  parents  do  not 
know  what  that  is;  and  when  they  see  that  they  are  not  gram- 
marians, they  are  dissatisfied  with  the  university  and  regret  hav- 
ing spent  their  money.  And  they  say  to  others  later  on:  "Do 
not  send  your  boys  to  the  university,  because  they  study  nothing, 
but  hang  about  the  streets  by  night,  and  the  money  is  wasted 
which  is  given  for  study."  And  this  master  told  me  further,  that 
in  his  time  there  were  quite  two  thousand  students  in  Leipzig  and 
as  many  at  Erfurt,  and  at  Vienna  four  thousand  and  as  many  at 
Cologne,  and  so  on  at  the  other  universities.  But  now  at  all  the 
universities  together  there  are  not  as  many  students  as  formerly 
at  one  or  two.  The  Leipzig  masters  bewail  the  lack  of  students, 
for  the  poets  have  done  them  this  injury.  When  parents  send 
their  sons  to  the  bursaries  and  colleges  they  are  unwilling  to  re- 
main there,  but  go  to  the  poets  and  study  worthless  stuff.  He 
told  me  also  that  he  himself  formerly  had  forty  pupils  at  Leipzig, 
and  when  he  went  to  church,  or  to  market,  or  to  stroll  in  the 
Rosengarten,  they  marched  along  behind  him.  It  was  then  a 
serious  offense  to  study  poetry;  and  when  any  one  acknowledged 
in  the  confessional  that  he  had  secretly  heard  a  bachelor  expound 
Virgil,  the  priest  imposed  a  severe  penalty  upon  him,  causing 
him  to  fast  every  Friday  or  to  repeat  each  day  seven  penitential 
psalms.  And  he  swore  to  me  upon  his  conscience  that  a  candi- 
date for  the  master's  degree  had  been  turned  down  because  one 
of  the  examiners  had  once  seen  him,  on  a  holiday,  reading  Ter- 
ence. If  such  conditions  obtained  nowadays  in  the  universities, 
I  should  not  be  slaving  here  in  the  curia.  But  what  can  we  do 
at  the  universities  ?  There  is  nothing  to  be  made.  The  bursars 
are  no  longer  willing  to  stay  in  the  bursaries  or  under  the  masters, 
and  among  twenty  students  scarcely  one  has  any  intention  of 
studying  for  a  degree;  but  all  wish  to  study  the  humanities. 
And  when  a  master  lectures,  he  has  no  hearers;  but  the  poets 
have  at  their  lectures  an  incredible  number  of  hearers.  Thus,  all 
the  universities  of  Germany  are  losing;  and  we  must  pray  to  God 


LETTERS   OF  OBSCURE  MEN.  79 

that  the  poets  may  die,  for  "  it  is  better  that  one  should  die,"  etc.; 
that  is  to  say,  that  the  poets,  of  whom  there  are  only  a  few  in 
each  university,  should  die,  rather  than  that  so  many  universities 
should  perish.  Write  me  now,  or  I  will  complain  loudly  of  your 
negligence.  Farewell.  Written  at  Rome. 

JOHANNES   KALB  TO   MASTER   ORTUIN  GRATIUS. 

A  friendly  greeting,  honorable  sir  and  venerable  master.  It 
surprises  me  greatly  that  you  are  always  pestering  me  with  your 
everlasting  demand:  "Write  me  some  news."  You  are  always 
eager  to  learn  the  news,  but  I  have  other  things  to  do.  I  cannot 
bother  about  novelties;  as  it  is,  I  am  obliged  to  run  hither  and 
thither  and  solicit  in  order  to  get  a  favorable  decision  and  acquire 
that  benefice.  But  if  you  will  be  content,  I  will  write  you  once,  so 
that  in  the  future  you  may  let  me  rest  with  your  news.  You  have 
no  doubt  heard  that  the  pope  has  a  great  animal,  called  Elephant, 
and  that  he  holds  it  in  great  honor  and  loves  it  much.  Now  you 
must  know  that  this  animal  is  dead.  When  it  was  taken  sick  the 
pope  was  in  great  distress,  and  summoned  several  physicians  and 
said  to  them :  "  If  it  is  possible,  cure  Elephant  for  me. ' '  Then  the}' 
did  their  best;  made  a  careful  diagnosis  and  administered  a  purge 
that  cost  five  hundred  golden  florins,  but  it  was  in  vain,  for  the 
animal  died.  The  pope  grieved  much  for  Elephant.  They  say 
he  gave  a  thousand  ducats  for  Elephant;  for  it  was  a  wonderful 
animal,  and  had  a  long  snout  of  prodigious  size.  When  it  beheld 
the  pope  it  knelt  before  him  and  cried  with  a  terrible  voice,  "bar! 
bar!  bar!"  I  believe  there  was  no  other  animal  of  the  kind  in  the 
world.  They  say,  also,  that  the  king  of  France  and  King  Charles 
have  concluded  a  peace  for  many  years  with  mutual  pledges. 
Many,  however,  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  peace  was  made  with 
reservations  and  will  not  last  long.  I  do  not  know  what  the  facts 
really  are,  and  do  not  care  much;  for  when  I  come  back  to  Ger- 
many I  shall  go  to  my  pastorate  and  enjoy  life.  I  have  there 
many  geese,  chickens  and  ducks,  and  I  can  keep  five  or  six  cows, 
which  will  give  me  milk,  so  that  I  can  make  cheese  and  butter. 
I  want  to  have  a  cook  who  understands  such  work.  She  must  be 
an  elderly  woman;  for  if  she  were  young,  she  would  be  a  tempta- 
tion to  the  flesh,  and  I  might  sin.  She  must  also  know  how  to 
spin,  for  I  will  buy  her  flax.  And  I  will  also  keep  two  or  three 
pigs  and  fatten  them,  so  that  I  shall  have  plenty  of  pork;  for 


8o  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

above  all  things  I  will  supply  my  house  with  an  abundance  ot 
material  for  the  kitchen.  Once  in  a  while  I  will  butcher  an  ox, 
sell  half  to  the  peasants  and  smoke  the  rest.  Back  of  the  house  I 
have  a  garden,  where  I  shall  plant  garlic,  onions  and  parsley,  and 
I  shall  also  have  cabbage,  turnips  and  other  things.  In  the 
winter  I  shall  sit  in  my  room  and  study,  so  that  I  may  preach  to 
the  peasants  out  of  the  Sermones  parati  or  the  Discipuli,  and  also 
out  of  the  Bible,  and  in  this  wise  I  shall  be  well  fixed  for  preach- 
ing. And  in  summer  I  shall  go  fishing,  or  work  in  the  garden, 
and  take  no  heed  of  wars;  for  I  shall  live  for  myself,  read  my 
prayers  and  say  mass,  and  have  no  care  for  those  worldly  affairs 
which  bring  destruction  to  the  soul.  Farewell.  Written  at  the 
Roman  curia. 

JOHANNES  BUTZBACH^ 

Johannes  Butzbach,  1478-1526,  is  to  be  reckoned  among  the  conservative 
humanists  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  struggles  of  his  earlier  career, 
related  in  part  below,  give  evidence  of  his  high  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
learning.  This  sentiment  he  never  lost,  and  during  the  years  of  his  admin- 
istration of  the  affairs  of  the  abbey  of  Laach,  from  1507  to  his  death,  his 
constant  effort  was  to  infuse  into  the  life  of  his  community  a  zeal  for  study 
and  intellectual  improvement.  His  literary  activity  centered  upon  the 
much  debated  question,  as  to  whether  the  reading  of  classical  authors  was 
conducive  or  detrimental  to  Christian  morals.  Butzbach,  true  to  the  tra- 
ditions of  Deveuter,  affirmed  their  utility,  regarding  their  use  as  part  of  the 
preparation  for  the  completer  understanding  of  the  holy  scriptures,  whose 
true  significance  might  only  be  interpreted  by  men  of  universal  culture. 
Replying  to  the  objection,  so  often  urged,  that  classical  writings  contained 
much  that  was  contrary  to  Christian  ethics,  Butzbach  founded  his  argument 
upon  the  saying  of  St.  Basil,  that  the  literary  worker,  like  the  bee,  should 
learn  to  appropriate  only  the  wholesome  nectar  and  to  reject  the  poisonous 
juices  of  the  flowers  amidst  which  he  labored. 

Book  i.     Chapter  8. 

In  the  earlier  chapters  Butzbach  relates  the  story  of  his  infancy  and 
primary  education.  His  career  in  the  school  of  his  native  town  was  brought 
to  an  untimely  close  by  repeated  acts  of  truancy,  resulting  in  a  cruel  chastise- 
ment at  the  hands  of  the  master.  About  this  time  a  neighbor's  son,  himself 
a  wandering  student,  happened  to  be  visiting  at  home,  and  offered  to  take 
the  young  Johannes  under  his  protection  and  make  a  scholar  of  him.  The 

'The  following  selections  are  from  the  Hodoporicon  or  Little  Book  of 
Wandering.  The  sole  manuscript  of  this  autobiographical  work  of  Butz- 
bach is  in  possession  of  the  library  of  Bonn. 


JOHANNES    BUTZBACH.  8 1 

parents,  who  resented  Johannes''  cruel  treatment  at  the  village  master's 
hands,  consented,  and  Johannes  set  forth  zvith  a  slender  store  of  money  and  a 
large  equipment  of  blessings  and  hope. 

Robbed  of  my  parents  and  homeless,  a  living  image  of  grief  and 
sorrow,  sobbing  and  crying  aloud  ceaselessly,  I  followed  with 
hesitating  steps  the  student  striding  on  before.  If  I  failed  at  any 
time  to  come  to  his  bidding,  he  became  ever  freer  with  his  harsh 
words  and  bitter  reproaches  as  the  way  lengthened  that  separated 
us  from  home.  In  this  way  he  wounded  still  more  my  lacerated 
spirit.  Indeed,  he  was  by  nature  of  unusual  harshness;  and  the 
less  cause  he  had  to  fear  my  escape,  on  account  of  the  growing 
distance  from  home  and  my  increasing  ignorance  of  the  way,  the 
more  he  sought  to  hold  me  in  check  with  fear  and  at  the  same 
time  to  spur  me  on  with  threats.  After  a  march  of  two  good 
miles,  which  indeed  was  no  trifle,  as  they  say,  especially  as  in 
this  instance  they  separated  two  creatures  inspired  with  mutual 
love,  we  came  from  Miltenberg  at  nightfall  to  the  village  of 
Kiilsheim,  already  mentioned.  Wearily  I  followed  the  student 
into  the  best  inn  that  the  place  afforded. 

Chapter  9. 

As  we  entered  the  door  of  the  inn,  the  landlord  came  forward 
to  meet  us,  and  very  prudently  inquired  from  what  country  we 
were  come,  whither  we  were  bound  and  what  might  be  our  wish. 
The  student  gave  him  little  satisfaction,  but  asked  him  if  he  could 
accommodate  us.  To  this  the  landlord  replied:  "  If  your  money 
is  good,  and  you  are  good  drinkers,  you  will  be  welcome  guests." 
The  student  rejoined:  "The  money  is  all  right.  Just  have  the 
table  prepared  and  an  abundance  to  eat  and  drink  set  forth." 
"You  talk  well,"  replied  the  landlord,  "  and  I  will  do  with  pleas- 
ure what  you  ask.  I  wish,  however,  that  there  were  more  of 
you;  for,  hoping  that  guests  would  arrive,  I  have  prepared  a  more 
than  usually  sumptuous  meal  for  this  evening."  When  the 
student  heard  this  he  exclaimed:  "That  is  a  piece  of  good  for- 
tune, that  you  have  prepared  such  abundant  refreshment.  I  have 
here  several  relatives,  with  whom  I  shall  be  glad  to  pass  a  merry 
evening  once  more  before  my  departure;  and  since  they  are  in 
service  and  not  well-to-do,  I  will  pay  the  whole  reckoning,  and 
you  may  rest  easy  on  that  score."  "A  bargain!  "  cried  the  land- 
lord. "  I  will  have  them  summoned  at  once." 


82  SOURCE-BOOK   OP  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

The  guests  did  not  keep  us  waiting,  but  set  themselves  to  the 
table  and  showed  themselves  valiant  trenchermen.  The  student 
took  no  heed  of  what  might  become  of  his  poor  little  companion. 
When  the  landlord  inquired:  "Where  is  the  young  fellow  that 
came  with  you  ?  "  the  student  looked  about  him  and  replied:  "  I 
think  he  must  have  gone  to  sleep  there  behind  the  stove,  tired 
out  with  the  journey.  Let  him  sleep  and  rest  out.  Sleep  will  do 
him  more  good  than  food." 

Chapter  10. 

I  was  not  asleep,  however,  as  he  said;  but  I  dared  not  express 
the  feelings  his  words  aroused.  During  the  day,  occupied  with 
preparations  for  the  journey,  I  had  eaten  very  little,  nor  had 
I  desired  to  eat.  Now  I  was  hungry,  but  I  dared  not  come  to 
the  table  without  an  invitation  from  the  student.  At  the  same 
time  the  gnawing  in  my  stomach  and  the  pangs  of  hunger  let  me 
neither  sleep  nor  rest.  I  pretended  to  sleep,  however,  and  sur- 
rendered myself  patiently  to  my  fate,  picturing  to  myself  my 
wretched  and  abandoned  condition.  When  the  meal  was  over, 
the  student  paid  the  reckoning  for  all  the  guests  out  of  my  money, 
just  as  though  it  had  been  his  own.  What  could  I  say?  What 
had  I  the  courage  to  do  or  think  under  the  circumstances  ?  He 
regarded  me  as  something  delivered  over  to  him,  sold  to  him, 
indeed,  or  as  some  estray  that  he  had  picked  up  and  made  his 
property. 

Karly  in  the  morning  we  got  under  way  and  came  to  the  town 
of  Bishofsheim,  two  miles  distant.  There  we  took  a  bite  and 
wandered  on  our  way  to  Windsheim,  an  imperial  city.  As  we 
entered  the  town  I  was  lost  in  admiration  of  the  massive  walls, 
the  houses  high  as  the  heavens,  and  the  churches  and  towers,  the 
like  of  which  I  had  never  seen  in  our  native  town  or  elsewhere. 

On  the  following  day  we  journeyed  further  and  came  to  the  city 
of  Ivongenzenn.  Here  we  were  affectionately  received  by  a  citi- 
zen of  the  town,  a  weaver,  who  not  long  before  had  worked  for 
several  years  with  my  father.  By  him  we  wrere  entertained  and 
otherwise  hospitably  treated.  We  conveyed  to  him  the  heartfelt 
greetings  of  our  parents,  as  they  had  urgently  requested.  He 
consoled  me  for  the  separation  from  my  parents  as  if  I  had  been 
his  own  child,  and  succeeded  in  quieting  my  grief.  He  never 
tired  of  cheering  my  saddened  spirit  with  friendly  conversation; 


JOHANNES   BUTZBACH.  83 

nor  did  he  cease  to  soothe  my  wounded  heart  with  gentle  words, 
and  cleverly  cited  as  an  example  the  fact  that  he,  and  my  father 
as  well,  and  many  other  persons,  both  of  the  worldly  and  of  the 
spiritual  order,  of  whom  I  knew,  had  been  obliged  to  endure 
much  in  foreign  countries,  in  order  to  learn  something.  The 
next  morning,  refreshed  and  consoled,  he  set  me  upon  my  way, 
once  more  urgently  commending  me  to  the  student's  care. 
Thence  I  wandered  on  with  my  little  pack,  along  the  hard  and 
weary  and  unknown  way,  trotting  ever  along  behind  the  student,, 
to  Nuremberg,  a  famous  seat  of  trade  and  industry. 

Chapter  //. 

When  at  last  I  saw  from  the  distance  the  towers  and  the  blue 
smoke  of  Nuremberg,  it  almost  seemed  to  me  that  I  was  looking, 
not  at  a  single  city,  but  at  a  whole  world.  I  thought  we  had 
only  a  mile  to  go;  but  when  we  inquired  of  some  people  whom, 
we  met  on  the  road  how  far  it  was,  they  replied  that  it  was  still 
three  miles.  IT  was  not  so  much  the  distance  as  our  impatient 
desire  to  reach  the  city,  whose  image  lay  before  us  on  the  horizon, 
that  made  the  way  so  unwelcome.  In  order  to  while  away  the 
time,  the  student  related  some  incidents  tending  to  exalt  his  in- 
dividual prowess.  A  song  or  a  story  generally  causes  the 
wanderer  to  forget  the  tedium  of  the  way.  When  toward  even- 
ing we  finally  approached  the  city,  we  halted  a  little  while  under 
the  walls,  to  prepare  us  for  our  entrance  into  the  town.  The 
student  sought  to  spoil  my  expectations  with  his  witticisms: 
"Since  you  have  never  been  here  before,"  he  said  among  other 
things,  "  it  will  be  necessary  to  sew  up  your  mouth."  When  the 
tears  rose  in  my  eyes  at  this  remark,  he  added:  "  Now  follow  me 
close  behind  and  do  not  keep  looking  to  this  side  and  to  that;  and 
do  not  gape  at  the  house  tops  with  open  mouth.  And  look  out 
that  I  do  not  have  to  wait  for  you  ever  now  and  then  in  the 
street,  on  account  of  your  everlasting  slowness,  or  when  we  come 
to  the  inn  you  will  get  a  good  thrashing." 

So  I  slunk  into  the  city  all  of  a  tremble,  exhausted  with  the 
effort  of  keeping  up  with  my  companion.  With  very  tired  and 
bruised  feet  I  followed  the  student  through  many  streets  paved 
with  sharp  stones,  while  from  all  sides  crowds  of  school  boys  fell 
upon  me.  Because  I  gave  no  answer  to  their  shout:  "  Are  you  a 
student?  "  they  held  their  hands  to  their  foreheads,  stretched  out 


84  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE   GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

like  asses'  ears,  and  followed  me  in  this  manner  all  the  way  to 
the  inn.  When  they  learned,  however,  that  we  intended  to  stop 
in  the  city,  they  ceased  from  further  persecutions  and  began  ex- 
tolling with  fulsome  praises  their  school  above  all  other  schools  in 
the  land. 

(Here  follow  various  adventures  of  travel.) 

Chapter  16. 

When  we  arrived  at  a  village,  he  sent  me  on  to  beg,  aud  waited 
for  me  at  the  further  end  of  the  place.  If  I  came  back  with 
empty  hands,  he  beat  me  furiously  and'cried:  "  Aha!  by  Heavens, 
I  will  teach  you  to  beg  yet!  "  If,  however,  I  had  succeeded  in 
getting  something  choice,  he  devoured  it  at  once,  and  I  got  only 
what  remained.  So  it  went  on  the  whole  time  that  I  stayed  with 
him.  Indeed,  he  was  so  suspicious  that  he  often  forced  me  to 
rinse  my  mouth  with  water  and  spit  it  out,  that  he  might  see  if  I 
had  perhaps  appropriated  something  good  from  my  begging;  for 
it  often  happened  that  kindly  women,  moved  by  my  modesty  and 
my  delicate  youth,  took  me  from  the  street  into  their  houses,  and 
when  they  had  listened  to  the  story  of  my  misery  and  of  my  sad 
parting  from  my  parents,  they  were  moved  with  pity  and  gave  me 
as  rich  refreshment  as  their  own  children  enjoyed.  This  dissatis- 
fied the  student  greatly,  on  account  of  his  envious  nature,  and  as 
often  as  it  came  to  his  knowledge  that  such  a  piece  of  fortune  had 
happened  to  me  in  his  absence,  he  fell  upon  me  with  fist  and  stick. 
Chapter  17. 

He  compelled  me  to  beg  through  places  so  foul  and  muddy,  that 
I  was  obliged  to  wade  up  to  my  ankles,  sometimes  up  to  my 
knees  in  mud,  and  like  one  who  treads  dough,  could  go  neither 
forward  nor  backward.  Sometimes  I  was  attacked  so  savagely  by 
watch-dogs  that  I  believe,  if  the  inhabitants  had  not  come  to  my 
rescue,  I  should  have  been  torn  to  pieces.  The  student  himself 
had  a  great  dislike  for  begging  and  did  not  practice  it,  recogniz- 
ing that  he  would  be  laughed  at  by  the  peasant  people  as  a  great 
lazy  rascal,  and  he  did  not  care  to  soil  himself  with  the  mud, 
which  he  knew  was  very  deep  in  these  places  during  the  rainy 
weather.  Moreover,  in  order  not  to  be  bothered  by  the  dogs,  it 
was  his  habit  to  go  around  the  villages  through  the  fields  and 
meadows,  a  thing  which  he  could  not  permit  me  to  do,  by  reason 
of  my  begging.  This  custom  he  adopted  on  the  other  side  of 


JOHANNES   BUTZBACH.  85 

Nuremberg,  and  held  rigidly  to  it  until  we  came  nearly  to  the 
town  of  Kaaden  in  Bohemia,  and  afterwards  during  the  whole  of 
the  remaining  time  that  I  was  with  him  on  the  journey. 

In  Kaaden  we  were  invited  by  the  rector  of  the  school  to  take 
up  our  residence,  and  received  one  room  for  us  both  in  the  bursary. 
Shortly  thereafter  came  two  wandering  students  from  Vienna 
with  their  schutzen,  and  were  shown  into  quarters  with  us.  Dur- 
ing the  day,  or  at  least  what  was  left  of  the  day,  after  the  public 
lesson,  the  chorus  and  the  begging,  I  stayed  in  our  cell,  but  dur- 
ing the  night  we  young  schulzen,  as  many  as  there  were  of  us, 
used  to  remain  in  the  common  room,  on  account  of  the  cold,  and 
sleep  on  a  wooden  platform  over  the  stove.  Once  I  fell  off  the 
platform,  and  although  I  did  quite  as  much  injury  to  my  head  as  to 
the  stove,  nevertheless  I  was  thought  to  deserve  a  severe  censure 
on  account  of  the  damage  I  was  guilty  of. 
Chapter  24.. 

{After  further  adventures  in  Bohemia  they  came  to  Eger,  where  they 
secured  positions  in  the  houses  of  certain  wealthy  citizens,  acting  as  tutors 
and  companions  to  the  sons  of  these  citizens,  and  receiving  board  and  lodg- 
ing in  return.) 

The  student  was  overjoyed  at  his  unexpected  good  fortune. 
My  own,  however,  which  seemed  to  him  even  better,  aroused  his 
envy  and  anger.  "  It  is  not  becoming,"  he  said,  "  that  a  schiiize 
like  you  should  be  so  quickly  promoted  among  strangers,  and  see 
better  times  than  I  myself;"  and  since  he  had  no  longer  any  need, 
on  account  of  his  new  position,  of  my  services  in  begging,  he 
handed  me  over  to  two  other  big  students,  for  whom  I  was  to 
forage  during  the  winter.  .1  complained  of  this  to  the  lad  who 
had  been  entrusted  to  me,  and  he  told  his  parents,  whereupon 
they  advised  me  to  come  home  with  their  son  immediately  after 
school  and  let  the  others  go.  After  I  had  done  this  a  few  times, 
against  the  commands  of  the  student,  he  caught  me  one  day  as 
we  were  coming  from  school,  and  together  with  his  companions 
dragged  me  to  their  quarters,  where  they  tore  the  clothes  from 
my  body,  beat  me  for  a  long  time  with  rods  upon  my  naked  skin, 
and  then  left  me  tied  in  the  room  in  the  severe  cold  until  the  next 
day.  Next  morning  he  asked  me  if  I  was  disposed  to  attend  to 
my  duties  with  the  students,  and  I  made  haste  to  answer  that  I 
was.  Then  he  unbound  me,  turned  me  over  to  his  companions 
with  threats  and  curses,  and  went  his  way  to  his  dwelling. 


86  SOURCE-BOOK   OF   THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

Chapter  25. 

Thus  was  my  lad  obliged  to  go  to  school  alone  that  morning. 
When  he  learned  what  had  happened  to  me,  he  hastened  to  ac- 
quaint his  parents  with  the  facts.  The  following  evening,  when 
we  had  returned  from  school,  I  related  to  them,  at  their  request,  all 
that  had  taken  place,  and  they  were  much  moved  with  compassion 
for  me.  The)'  ordered  me  to  remain  in  the  house,  to  await  what- 
ever might  occur.  The  student,  however,  when  he  became  aware, 
both  from  the  complaints  of  his  fellow-students,  to  whom  he  had 
sold  me,  and  from  my  absence  as  well,  of  what  had  transpired, 
fell  into  a  great  rage,  and  came  the  following  morning  to  our 
house,  together  with  a  great  company  of  students  and  schuteen. 
They  succeeded  in  making  their  way  up  to  the  upper  story,  where 
we  were,  when  the  father  opposed  them  with  weapons  in  his 
hands,  let  drive  at  them  promiscuously,  and  drove  them  out  of 
the  house  and  court-yard,  calling  after  them  that  they  should 
not  presume  again  to  enter  there. 

But  alas  for  me!  After  this  occurrence  I  knew  not  which  way 
to  turn.  .  I  had  the  courage  neither  to  go  to  school  nor  even  to 
run  an  errand  out  of  doors,  because  my  students  sent  me  word 
that  they  would  tear  me  into  pieces,  if  they  could  catch  me  any- 
where. Out  of  fear  I  gave  up  school,  fled  secretly  from  the  city 
and  betook  me  to  the  baths.1  There  I  served  the  guests  at  an  inn 
until  the  new  year,  when  I  was  kidnaped  b)^  a  Bohemian  noble. 

Thus  was  I  forced,  through  the  cruelty  of  my  student,  to  give 
up  school  and  the  study  of  the  sciences,  since  I  could  no  longer 
endure  his  godless  treatment  of  me  ;  I,  who  had  been  so  urgently 
recommended  to  him  by  my  parents.  Neither  of  us  has  met  the 
other  face  to  face  since  that  time,  nor  have  I  ever  learned  what 
became  of  him.  At  the  baths,  however,  I  came  across  two 
schiitzen,  who  formerly  had  shared  my  room  in  the  bursa  at 
Kaaden,  and  they  related  that  their  students  had  been  hanged 
for  theft,  committed  at  some  place  or  other.  Then  the  thought 
came  to  me,  that  something  of  the  kind  might  have  happened  to 
mine.  If  this  ever  came  to  pass  at  a  later  time— which  indeed  I 
should  not  wish  to  happen — at  least  it  was  not  necessary  that  he 
should  have  degenerated,  for  his  father  came  to  the  gallows  at 
home  on  account  of  theft.  In  the  meantime  I  have  heard,  that 

1  Carlsbad. 


JOHANNES    BUTZBACH.  87 

after  my  departure  he  came  once  into  the  neighborhood  of  our 
native  place,  but  did  not  enter  the  town,  both  on  account  of  his 
shame,  because  his  father  had  been  hanged,  and  because  he  had 
lost  me.  His  friends,  to  whom  he  contrived  to  send  word  secretly, 
went  out  to  him,  and  with  them  my  people,  who  had  learned  of 
his  coming.  When  he  was  unable  to  answer  their  pressing  in- 
quiries as  to  where  he  had  left  me,  and  became  involved  in  even 
greater  contradictions,  he  took  the  first  opportunity  of  getting 
away  from  them,  and  from  that  day  to  this  he  has  never  shown 
himself  at  our  home. 

Behold,  you  have  before  you  all  the  misery  to  which  I  was 
exposed  from  my  seventh  to  my  twelfth  year  under  the  school- 
master's rod,  and  you  have  seen  what  fidelity  that  wretched 
student,  after  all  the  careful  recommendations  of  my  parents,  ex- 
hibited toward  me  in  the  midst  of  strangers.  May  the  almighty 
God  forgive  him  for  that  which  he  has  done.  Amen. 

{The  Second  Book  of  Butzbach's  narrative  contains  an  account  of  his 
adventures  among  the  heretics  of  Bohemia,  during  which  his  school  ex- 
periences were  wholly  interrupted.  He  succeeded  finally  in  returning  home, 
where  he  found  opportunity  of  resuming  his  studies  under  more  favorable 
conditions.) 

Book  III.     Chapter  8. 

While  occupied  with  the  duties  and  exercises  of  a  lay  brother,1 
my  inclination  toward  the  higher  functions  of  the  brethren  grew 
apace,  and  I  deeply  bewailed  my  misfortune,  that  I  had  been 
obliged  to  give  up  my  studies.  This  did  not  escape  the  attention 
of  the  younger  brethren,  who  had  but  recently  come  from  the 
schools,  and  they  secretly  advised  me  to  betake  myself  to  De- 
venter.  There  was  in  our  convent  an  elderly  monk,  Peter  Schlarp 
by  name,  a  very  diligent  and  learned  man,  who  gave  me  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  the  rector  of  the  high  school  at  Deventer,  Alex- 
ander Hegius. 

Fortified  with  this  letter  I  set  out,  although  the  abbot  inter- 
posed some  objections,  and  expressed  himself  as  having  no  con- 
fidence in  my  success.  In  the  preliminary  examinations  I  was 
unable  to  answer  the  questions  put  to  me,  but  because  the}-  were 
so  astonished  at  the  good  and  correct  L/atin  of  mjr  letter  of  intro- 

1  Butzbach  had  been  accepted  as  lay  brother  in  the  monastery  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist  at  Johannisberg. 


88  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

duction  I  was  put  into  the  seventh  grade,  where  I  set  out  to 
master  the  rudiments  of  grammar,  along  with  the  little  boys. 
But  through  want,  hunger  and  cold  I  came  into  such  distress  that 
I  was  obliged  again  to  give  up  the  studies  I  had  undertaken. 
With  a  few  comrades,  upon  whose  advice  I  acted,  I  left  the  place. 

Two  noble  lords,  Johann  G ,  who  afterwards  died  of  the  pest, 

and  his  brother  Frederick,  who  is  still  living,  interceded  for  me, 
and  I  was  taken  back  into  the  cloister,  although  previous  to  this 
I  had  laid  aside  the  garb  and  entered  the  cloister  of  Eberbach, 
unmindful  of  the  commands  of  the  abbot  to  return.  This  cloister 
is  said  to  have  been  founded  by  St.  Bernard  at  the  time  when  he 
was  in  that  region  as  imperial  legate.  Thus  I  received  a  second 
time  the  habit  of  the  order,  and  a  further  departure,  or  a  continu- 
ance of  my  studies,  was  no  more  to  be  thought  of. 

In  a  quiet  way  I  had  about  reconciled  myself  to  remaining  here 
forever,  when  it  happened  one  day  that  I  had  occasion  to  accom- 
pany the  abbot  to  Frankfort.  Here  we  encountered  my  mother. 
She  had  heard  that  I  was  already  a  "  Lollard,"  had  sought  me  in 
the  cloister  and  had  followed  us  with  a  heart  full  of  sorrow.  The 
whole  day  she  interceded  with  the  abbot,  praying  that  she  might 
be  permitted  to  send  me  once  more  to  school.  But  the  abbot  was 
not  to  be  moved  with  the  most  urgent  entreaty.  When  my 
mother  saw  that  she  could  accomplish  nothing  in  this  way,  she 
gave  me  money  secretly  and  made  me  promise  that  upon  our 
return  I  should  leave  the  cloister,  even  against  the  abbot's  will. 

Chapter  9. 

We  returned  to  our  cloister.  I  had  not  the  courage  to  beg  for 
permission  to  go  forth.  Already  I  was  thoroughly  reconciled  to 
remaining  in  my  humble  condition.  Then  it  happened  that  the 
abbot,  disturbed  in  his  heart  by  the  woman's  entreaty,  came  of 
his  own  accord  to  me.  He  spoke  to  me  kindly,  and  said  that  I 
might  undertake  that  which  according  to  my  knowledge  and 
conscience  seemed  the  better  thing  to  do.  All  abashed  at  his 
graciousness,  I  confessed  my  fervent  love  for  the  sciences,  and 
the  desire,  which  had  always  animated  my  soul,  to  attain  to  the 
higher  grades  of  the  order. 

Then  the  abbot  said:  "  Go  hence  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and 
remain  ever  steadfast  in  thy  good  resolve.  Thy  mother's  wish 
shall  be  fulfilled.  Go  with  zeal  and  endurance  to  thy  studies  and 


JOHANNES   BUTZBACH.  89 

complete  them;  then  come  hither  and  the  order  will  be  open  to 
thee." 

So  for  the  third  time  I  left  the  cloister  and  betook  myself  to  my 
native  town.  I  was  a  welcome  guest  with  all  my  acquaintances; 
and  when  the  people  heard  that  I  was  going  once  more  to  school, 
there  were  certain  masters  who  applauded  my  resolve  and  wished 
me  luck.  Others,  on  the  contrary,  thought  I  was  too  old  and 
laughed  at  me.  But  my  father  expressed  no  little  joy  at  the 
prospect,  and  gave  me  at  once  the  money  for  the  journey.'  Five 
guilders  he  gave  me.  Moreover  he  knew  that  my  mother  had 
still  a  very  beautiful  piece  of  money,  which  she  had  received  from 
Hillig  when  he  became  engaged  to  her,  and  he  urgently  de- 
manded I  should  have  that  too.  But  my  mother  was  unwilling 
to  give  it  up,  and  intended,  without  my  father's  knowledge,  to 
give  me  another  guilder  in  its  place.  Thereupon  a  serious  quarrel 
ensued  between  them,  the  result  of  which  was  that  my  mother 
was  soundly  beaten  and  her  hair  severely  pulled.  When  I  saw 
that,  I  threw  down  my  pack  and  the  rest  of  m}^  money,  and  with 
my  brothers  and  sisters  rushed  to  my  mother's  aid,  against  my 
father.  I  succeeded  in  dragging  her  from  under  his  feet.  Weep- 
ing bitterly,  I  left  the  house,  and  registered  with  myself  a  vow 
that  after  such  occurrences  I  would  never  again  set  foot  in  any 
school,  nor  would  I  even  go  back  to  the  cloister.  Meanwhile  my 
father's  anger  had  subsided,  and  when  he  came  back  once  more 
to  his  senses,  unable  to  endure  the  stings  of  conscience,  he  ran 
through  the  village  in  search  of  me.  When  at  last  he  found  me, 
he  begged  me,  in  the  agony  of  his  spirit,  not  to  abandon  my 
design.  I  might  forgive  him  his  offence,  since  he  had  done 
wrong  through  his  effort  to  further  my  plans.  I  should  be  recon- 
ciled and  go  on  with  my  undertaking,  which  had  given  him  so 
much  pleasure.  Thereupon  he  handed  me  the  guilder  obtained 
with  so  many  blows,  and  I  accepted  it  for  the  sake  of  peace, 
meaning  secretly  to  return  it  to  my  mother  at  a  later  opportunit}% 
when  she  accompanied  me  to  the  boat. 

Finally,  I  tore  myself  away.  Our  boat  sailed  down  the  Main 
and  onwards  down  the  Rhine.  We  changed  masters  both  at 
Mainz  and  Cologne.  Unusually  favorable  winds  filled  our  sails, 
and  after  nine  days  we  landed  at  Deventer.  Again  I  was  ex" 
amined  by  the  rector,  and  put  into  the  eighth  grade.  There  I 
sat  beside  six  other  grown-up  schoolmates,  who  in  consequence  of 


90  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

an  insurrection  had  taken  to  study  through  fear;  because  a  few  days 
before  our  arrival  a  mob  of  seven  thousand  insurgents,  who  held 
a  city  in  siege,  had  been  overwhelmed  by  the  Bishop  of  Maestricht 
and  the  Duke  of  Gueldres.  A  hundred  of  them  had  been  con- 
demned to  death.  These  were  executed  on  the  day  of  my  arrival 
and  on  the  two  days  preceding,  and  I  saw  them  still  lying  on  the 
wheels.  Of  these  schoolmates  just  mentioned,  who  entered  upon 
their  studies  more  out  of  fear  than  from  any  thirst  for  knowledge, 
only  a  few  were  steadfast.  For  the  most  part  they  were  too  slow 
of  understanding  and  made  no  progress,  while  I  strove  night  and 
day  by  diligent  application  to  acquire  a  better  degree  of  informa- 
tion. 

Chapter  10. 

It  was  not  long  before  my  classmates  were  dismissed.  One  of 
them,  however,  sat  for  four  years  in  the  same  grade  and  scarcely 
learned  to  read,  notwithstanding  he  dwelt  with  the  teacher  of  his 
class,  and  had  gone  to  considerable  expense;  but  with  no  result. 
For  my  part,  I  had  been  in  the  eighth  grade  but  a  short  time 
when  I  was  permitted  to  pass  over  the  seventh  and  to  enter  the 
sixth  grade,  and  from  this  I  came  at  Easter  into  the  fifth.  At 
that  time  I  secured  a  place  with  the  Brethren  in  the  relief  house, 
where  only  those  from  the  fifth  grade  upward  were  received,  and 
then  only  on  condition  that  they  intended  to  become  monks. 
Moreover  I  was  free  to  visit  the  house  of  a  canon  in  the  town,  who 
was  also  provost  at  Ziitphen,  when  I  was  in  need;  for  before  my 
entrance  into  the  brotherhood  house,  while  I  dwelt  in  the  city  at 
the  house  of  a  very  pious  maiden  lad}-,  I  had  the  opportunity,  on 
several  occasions,  to  be  of  service  to  the  canon,  by  lending  a  help- 
ing hand  to  his  sewing  people,1  and  on  one  occasion  to  the  chief 
of  his  household.  In  addition  to  this  I  had  made  several  other 
acquaintances,  who  were  favorably  disposed  towrard  me,  and  in 
time  of  need  and  suffering  gave  me  much  aid  and  comfort. 

During  this  time  I  had  to  struggle  against  many  and  various 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  ill  health  and  sickness;  so  that  at  times, 
in  spite  of  all  my  eagerness  for  knowledge,  I  wras  half  persuaded 
to  give  up  the  attempt.  It  seemed  to  me  that  never  before,  up  to 
this  time,  had  I  been  obliged  to  contend  with  such  an  insalubrious 
climate  and  such  a  raw  atmosphere  as  in  this  place,  whereby  I 

1  After  his  return  from  Bohemia,  Butzbach  had  been  apprenticed  to  a  tailor. 


JOHANNES    BUTZBACH.  91 

was  persecuted  day  by  day  with  all  kinds  of  torments  and  sick- 
ness, so  continuously  that  I  began  to  think  seriously  of  hanging 
my  studies  on  the  nail  and  taking  up  again  my  old  trade,  if  only 
to  get  away  from  this  region  and  from  its  inhabitants.  Now  it 
was  burning  fevers,  now  tumorous  affections,  which  threatened 
my  life.  Next  came  the  quinsy,  complicated  with  a  swelling  oi 
the  larynx;  then  the  itch,  and  indeed  in  so  horrible  a  form  that 
my  whole  skin  was  stiff  from  it.  In  addition  to  this  I  often  suf- 
fered from  boils  on  various  portions  of  my  body.  Then  too  I  had 
a  swelling  of  the  feet,  and  often  for  considerable  periods  a  swelling 
of  the  thigh.  Finally  I  got  help  from  a  woman  who  possessed  a 
knowledge  of  the  art  of  healing.  With  an  iron  instrument  she 
cut  out  the  swelling  from  my  thigh,  which  she  called  a  "  rose." 
I  was  almost  crazed  with  the  pain  of  the  operation.  Moreover  I 
lived  in  constant  fear  lest  some  misfortune,  of  which  they  at  home 
were  also  fearful,  should  overtake  me.  Almost  never  did  I  feel 
myself  secure,  and  when,  as  it  often  happens,  the  outbreak  of  a 
war  was  apprehended,  I  feared  lest  I  should  be  obliged  to  return 
home  before  the  completion  of  my  studies,  still  ignorant  of  the 
sciences,  an  object  of  ridicule  to  those  who  were  of  the  opinion  I 
wrould  derive  no  benefit  from  my  studies,  and  who,  when  I  went 
seriously  about  it,  looked  upon  me  as  insane.  Moreover,  it  was 
daily  rumored  that  the  pest  was  at  hand.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
pest  or  of  war  it  was  the  custom  to  send  scholars  out  of  the  town. 
Furthermore,  I  suffered  much  from  an  itching  malady,  called  "fig- 
warts,"  which  covered  the  body  like  the  bark  of  an  oak  tree. 
Moreover,  I  was  constantly  pestered  with  many  other  untoward 
conditions,  with  which  the  enemy,  with  divine  permission,  over- 
w-helmed  me,  in  order  to  bring  me  from  my  undertaking,  if  such 
were  possible.  Strengthened,  however,  with  the  instructions  of 
the  pious  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life,  who  interested  them- 
selves in  the  affairs  of  scholars  with  so  much  affection  and  with 
so  much  success;  fortified  also  with  the  consolations  of  pious 
people,  I  overcame,  thank  God,  all  these  tribulations  with 
patience,  and  put  to  shame  the  treacherous  enemy  with  all  his 

machinations. 

Chapter  n. 

Now  that  all  these  sufferings  have  been  lived  down,  I  dv;ell 
upon  them  in  my  thoughts  with  much  pleasure,  because  I  believe 
that  they  were  all  sent  me  for  the  purification  and  advancement  of 


92  SOURCE-BOOK   OF   THE   GERMAN    RENAISSANCE. 

my  soul.  Five  times,  however,  it  happened,  that  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  others  I  was  on  the  point  of  giving  up  my  studies  and  re- 
turning home.  It  even  went  so  far  at  one  time — it  was  a  year 
after  my  arrival  and  I  was  then  Quintanus — that  one  morning  I 
made  my  preparations  to  depart  in  company  with  certain  com- 
rades. Suddenly,  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  the  swelling 
of  my  feet  and  the  abscess,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  attacked  me. 
A  journey  under  the  circumstances  was  out  of  the  question.  I 
remained  and  was  promoted  to  the  fourth  grade.  Now  I  thank 
God  for  this  dispensation.  Had  I  departed  at  that  time  no  one 
would  have  been  able  ever  to  induce  me  to  return  to  so  much 
misery. 

Two  reasons  in  particular  may  be  adduced,  which  determined, 
me  to  hold  out  and  bound  me  fast  to  the  sciences:  my  father's 
desire,  while  he  was  still  living;  and  the  prophec)7,  if  I  may  call 
it  so,  of  certain  persons,  that  I  should  some  time  become  a  priest. 
The  former  was  expressed  at  home;  the  latter  at  Johannisberg, 
while  I  was  there  as  lay  brother  and  cloister  tailor;  for  on  a  cer- 
tain occasion,  while  I  was  sitting  at  my  work  and  engaged  in 
confidential  discourse  with  an  elderly  and  invalid  father,  for  whose 
care  and  service  I  was  daily  responsible;  and  while  I  was  telling 
him  how  greatly  to  my  sorrow  I  had  been  obliged,  as  a  lad,  to 
give  up  my  studies — while,  as  I  say,  I  was  telling  my  story  and 
lamenting  that  nothing  had  come  out  of  my  earlier  studies  and 
my  desire  to  become  a  priest,  a  certain  round  piece  of  bread, 
which  we  call  the  host,  and  which  I  had  fastened  to  the  wall  over 
against  my  work  table,  out  of  devotional  feeling  and  from  a -de- 
sire to  guard  against  the  temptations  to  which  the  vigorous  period 
of  youth  is  especially  subject,  and  also  to  have  a  remembrance  of 
the  sufferings  of  our  Lord  always  before  my  eyes,  this  piece  of 
of  bread,  I  say,  to  our  great  amazement,  detached  itself  from  the 
wall  and  fell  to  the  floor.  As  the  old  man,  who  with  shaking 
head  sat  behind  the  stove,  perceived  this,  he  stood  up,  in  spite 
of  the  senile  weakness  which  weighed  so  heavily  upon  him,  and 
in  a  loud  voice  exclaimed:  "See,  Brother  Johannes!  This  is  with- 
out doubt  a  sign  to  thee  of  thy  future  priesthood!  Thou  shalt  no 
longer  doubt,  but  of  a  truth  believe,  that,  when  thou  givest  thy- 
self again  to  study,  this  thing  which  has  just  happened  shall 
have  the  meaning  I  have  ascribed  to  it." 

He  also  foretold  the  day  and  the  hour  of  his  death,  and  even 


JOHANNES    BUTZBACH.  93 

after  he  was  dead  the  brethren  called  him  back  to  life,  to  make 
his  confession. 

His  word  I  never  forgot.  A  year  passed  before  I  again  gave 
myself  to  study,  and  with  my  parents'  help  returned  to  school, 
and  with  God's  grace  and  with  the  help  of  the  blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  within  four  years  according  to  the  prophecy  I  became 
monk  and  priest.  Now  may  this  benefaction  of  God  redound  to 
the  salvation  of  my  soul,  unworthy  that  I  am,  and  the  souls  of  my 
people,  and  to  the  glory  of  God!  That  is  my  most  urgent  wish. 

Chapter  12. 

The  same  was  once  said  to  my  mother  by  a  priest,  a  very 
worthjr  man  and  pastor  in  the  town  of  Aschaffenburg,  where  once 
upon  a  time  he  brought  me  a  chasuble  to  be  repaired  and  heard 
the  deep  sigh  I  uttered  to  God,  as  I  tried  it  on  and  said:  "Would 
that  I  too  could  be  a  priest."  Furthermore  my  continuance  at 
study  was  largely  due  to  my  late  father's  desire,  who,  living  and 
dying,  had  expressed  this  as  his  especial  wish.  For  this  reason, 
during  his  life,  he  sent  me  to  school,  and  on  his  deathbed  he 
impressed  this  strongly  upon  my  mother's  mind.  After  her 
death,  when  I  had  given  up  the  tailor's  trade  and  was  taking 
counsel  with  our  friends,  in  reference  to  going  back  to  school,  the 
following  occurred :  One  morning,  as  my  brother  Kunz  and  I 
arose  and  were  dressing,  my  father's  spirit,  just  as  he  was  in  life, 
appeared  in  front  of  our  room,  remained  standing  a  little  time  in 
the  open  doorway,  and  looked  at  me  in  an  appealing  way,  as 
though  he  would  say  to  me  that  I  should  carry  out  my  plan, 
which  had  been  for  so  long  his  dearest  wish,  without  fear  or  hesi- 
tation. More  than  anything  else  was  this  occurrence  a  spur  to 
my  zeal  and  it  impelled  me  to  persevere  in  my  studies.  If,  in- 
deed, I  had  been  in  some  respects  too  little  obedient  to  my  father 
in  his  lifetime,  now  I  desired  to  make  amends,  since  he  so  ear- 
nestly desired  that  I  should  be  a  priest.  God  grant  that  now, 
when  I  am  one,  it  may  contribute  to  the  repose  of  his  soul! 

After  this  digression  I  shall  now  take  up  the  thread  of  my  narra- 
tive, and  I  wish  to  occupy  some  little  space  with  the  praise  of 
Deventer  itself,  where  I  endured  all  the  privations  which  I  have 
mentioned. 

The  people  are  wonderfully  kind  toward  the  poor,  to  an  extent 
which  I  have  observed  nowhere  else  ;  and  pious  withal  and  much 


94  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

attached  to  religion.  At  the  same  time  the  town,  by  reason  of  its 
extensive  trade  with  countries  across  the  sea  and  with  Holland 
and  Zealand,  is  extraordinarily  wealthy.  May  I  be  set  down  as 
a  falsifier,  if  I  have  not  known  a  citizen  of  the  place,  a  great 
benefactor  toward  me  and  toward  other  poor  people,  who  gave 
his  daughter,  upon  the  occasion  of  her  marriage,  a  dowry  of  seven- 
teen thousand  guilders  in  hard  cash.  This  same  citizen's  wife 
was  also  a  very  upright  woman  and  wonderfully  charitable  toward 
the  poor  and  toward  strangers.  No  day  passed  that  she  did  not 
invite  some  six  or  seven  needy  clergymen  to  her  well  furnished 
table,  not  to  speak  of  the  alms  which  she  was  constantly  giving 
to  other  poor  men  at  her  door.  The  kindness  which  this  estim- 
able woman  showed  me  at  the  time  of  my  sickness  and  need  was 
truly  remarkable,  whether  it  be  in  the  way  of  food,  clothing  and 
money,  or  with  her  cheering  conversation.  She  and  her  family 
truly  deserve  to  be  rich,  for  they  are  not,  as  is  the  case  with  so 
many  rich  people,  proud  or  miserty,  nor  do  they  place  their  trust 
upon  the  volume  of  their  riches,  but,  gentle,  generous  and  pitiful 
towrard  the  prayers  of  the  poor,  they  set  their  hopes  upon  God. 
And  this  noble  cit}-  has  many  more  such  God-fearing  people. 

In  addition  to  this  it  possesses  an  excellent  constitution  and  a 
well-regulated  government.  Alexander  Hegius,  formerly  director 
of  the  high  school  at  Deventer,  has  sung  the  praises  of  the  city  in 
the  following  brief  verses,  which  are  moreover  his  latest  composi- 
tion : 

"Of  the  piety  of  Deventer 

Through  the  towns  the  rumor  goes. 

I  esteem  it  worth  the  riches 

Which  there  everywhere  abound. 

There  the  peasant  is  protected, 

And  the  robber  feels  the  law. 

There  each  man  receives  what  bounty, 

Horse  or  foot,  to  him  is  due. 

Ever  full  may  stand  the  treasure, 

Never  touched  by  faction's  hand. 

Thus  we  pray,  both  youth  and  elder, 

Night  and  day  for  native  laud." 

As  its  patron  saint  the  city  reverences  the  holy  confessor  Leivin, 
once  a  monk  of  our  order,  and  a  pupil  of  St.  Willibrod.  In  his 
honor  was  built  a  beautiful  church,  wherein  his  bones,  together 
with  those  of  certain  other  saints,  as  for  example  St.  Margaret, 


JOHANNES   BUTZBACH.  95 

whose  remains  were  brought  from  Rome,  and  St.  Rathbod,  bishop 
of  Maestricht,  and  many  others,  have  been  decent!)'  laid  to  rest  in 
a  costly  chest.  The  holy  Leivin  came  from  England,  and  was 
the  first  who  won  this  land  to  the  Christian  faith.  He  dwelt  on 
the  Y.ssel,  a  tributary  of  the  Rhine,  and  even  at  the  present  day  his 
house  is  shown  by  people  dwelling  in  that  neighborhood ;  al- 
though, in  truth,  its  appearance  has  much  changed. 

Besides  the  markets  which  are  held  at  Deventer  at  various 
times  of  the  year,  the  city  has  another  advantage,  whereby  it  has 
become  famous,  and  rightfully  so,  far  and  wide,  beyond  all  other 
cities  of  this  region.  This  is  due  to  its  Latin  school,  renowned 
for  a  long  time  past,  which,  under  the  supervision  of  men  of  cul- 
ture and  ability,  for  a  long  time  enjoyed  great  prosperity  on 
account  of  its  cultivation  of  the  humanities.  After  the  death  of 
Alexander  Hegius,  of  whom  I  have  spoken  above,  a  man  of  the 
profoundest  learning,  versed  in  three  languages,  and  withal  a 
philosopher  and  poet,  who  died  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1498,  the 
first  year  of  my  student  life  in  Deventer — since  that  time  (with 
sorrow  I  chronicle  the  fact),  the  school  has  declined  greatly,  as 
reports  from  there  inform  me. 

That  was  indeed  a  man  worthy  of  all  praise,  as  in  fact  he  has 
been  so  deservedly  extolled,  both  living  and  since  his  death,  by 
many  distinguished  men.  Like  a  brilliant  light  he  shone  above 
the  people  through  his  uprightness,  his  comprehensive  knowledge 
and  his  great  gifts,  superior  to  all  his  learned  contemporaries. 
His  former  pupil,  the  illustrious  Desiderius  Erasmus,  in  his 
Adages  pays  high  tribute  to  the  great  teacher.  The  accomplished 
Rudolph  Agricola,  in  his  time  rector  of  the  University  of  Heidel- 
berg, and  Johann  von  Dalberg,  the  cultured  bishop  of  Worms, 
celebrate  his  brilliant  gifts.1 

Chapter  /j. 

The  school  at  Deventer  has  been  of  great  value  to  the  reformed 
orders,  insomuch  as  it  has  supplied  them  with  many  educated 
and  scholarly  men.  So  long  as  the  school  preserved  its  merited 
reputation,  by  means  of  good,  thorough  instruction  and  funda- 
mental erudition,  its  graduates  were  everywhere  eagerly  sought. 
At  that  time  you  might  see  the  better-prepared  scholars  and  those 

1  Here  follow  selections  from  the  poems  of  eminent  humanists,  written  in 
honor  of  Hegius. 


96  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

best  grounded  in  the  humanities  streaming  into  the  orders  at 
Deventer  and  at  Zwoll;  and  they  were  superior  material  to  that 
which  I  now  find  in  the  first  and  second  classes;  although  at 
present  they  read,  it  is  true,  a  better  selection  of  authors  in  the 
schools  than  formerly.  For  I  have  heard  it  remarked,  that  out- 
side of  the  Parables  of  Alanus,  the  Morals  and  the  Ethics  of  Cato, 
the  Fables  of  JEsop  and  a  few  writers  of  this  type,  for  whom  they 
have  very  little  respect  at  present,  it  was  seldom  that  anything 
else  was  read.  On  the  other  hand,  a  strong  effort  was  made  to 
broaden  the  student's  mind  by  means  of  an  inflexible  industry, 
which  yielded  not  to  the  greatest  difficulties.  Now,  however, 
when  all  secondary  schools,  even  the  least  important,  are  filled 
with  the  various  admirable  works  of  old  and  new  classical  writers, 
both  prose  and  poetry,  the  ardor  is  nevertheless  weakened,  and 
students  for  the  most  part  apply  themselves  to  their  work  like  the 
donkey  to  his  lyre,  as  the  Greeks  say,  °"°?  ~m  x^-^.  All-devour- 
ing time  permits  nothing  to  endure.  Hence  the  phenomenon 
that  the  orders  began  to  decline  as  the  school  approached  its 
downward  path.  Still,  since  the  reformation  of  the  orders,  which 
is  not  yet  a  hundred  years  old  in  any  cloister,  they  say  that  many 
men  of  intellect  have  been  sent  forth  from  this  school,  who  have 
been  received  and  provided  for  in  the  various  cloisters  of  this  sec- 
tion of  Germany. 

But  it  is  time  to  return  to  my  previous  narrative.  I  must  close 
with  what  I  have  already  said  of  Deventer;  moreover,  these  things 
are  wrell  known  to  those  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the 
various  branches  of  learning,  and  have  laid  the  foundations  of  a 
wider  culture.  Many  such — with  joy  I  chronicle  the  fact — share 
with  me  here  the  holy  service  and  bear  the  yoke  of  the  Lord. 
Some  have  returned  to  the  world's  turmoil.  But  this  digression, 
into  which  my  love  and  my  enthusiasm  for  the  times  gone  by  have 
led  me,  has  been  more  extensive  than  I  intended.  L,et  us  finally 
resume  the  course  of  our  narrative. 

Chapter  14. 

I  remained  a  half  year  in  the  fifth  class,  under  the  guidance  of 
an  excellent  man,  Master  Gottfried,  a  Baccalaureus  of  both  laws 
and  Master  of  Arts.  After  an  examination  I  rose  to  the  fourth 
class,  where  I  passed  a  year  under  the  industrious  and  well-in- 
structed Master  Johann  von  Venray,  and  with  his  permission,  al- 


JOHANNES   BUTZBACH.  97 

though  I  hardly  deserved  it,  I  came  into  the  third  class.  This  class 
was  at  that  time  under  the  charge  of  Master  Bartholomew  of 
Cologne,  an  unusually  industrious  and  learned  man.  His  writ- 
ings, as  well  in  prose  as  in  verse,  are  admired  by  the  greatest 
scholars  and  most  highly  praised  ;  for  he  is  a  man  of  fine,  broad 
mind,  and  of  wonderful  eloquence,  and  withal  distinguished  in 
many  branches  of  knowledge.  It  seemed  very  strange  to  everybody 
that  a  man  of  his  ability,  versed  in  all  departments  of  science, 
should  keep  to  his  studies,  like  a  perfect  ignoramus,  with  tireless 
industry  deep  into  the  night.  He  was  fond  of  industrious  pupils 
and  very  cheerfully  did  for  them  what  they  desired  ;  wherefore 
the  energetic  and  zealous  pupils,  so  far  as  I  know,  regarded  him 
with  so  much  love  that,  after  they  had  devoted  themselves  to 
philosophic  studies  for  several  years  in  succession  under  so  good  a 
master  and  reader,  and  finally  came  to  go  away,  they  could  hardly 
tear  themselves  from  him.  Although  he  indeed  deserved  it,  yet 
he  had  never  been  honored  by  any  university  with  the  master's 
degree.  For  this  reason  he  is  at  the  present  day  a  thorn  in  the 
side  of  many  blockheads,  who  are  proud  of  their  empty  titles,  and 
his  works  have  been  criticised  and  unfavorably  regarded  as  mere 
school  exercises.  In  the  meantime,  as  a  true  and  genuine  philos- 
opher, he  concerns  himself  not  at  all  with  such  people,  whose 
science  consists  merely  in  an  empty  title  and  certain  externals, 
like  a  camel  decked  in  purple.  It  is  indeed  better  to  possess  the 
reality  of  knowledge  than  an  empty  name.  What  is  a  name  with- 
out the  thing  itself?  Of  what  avail  are  titles  without  ability? 
What  avails  an  honor  without  the  capacity  ?  A  characterization 
without  the  fact  ?  Nowadays  when  an)'  one,  even  without  industry, 
has  gone  through  his  period  of  study,  whether  he  knows  anything 
of  the  essentials  or  not  it  is  an  easy  thing  for  him,  by  means  of  a 
present,  to  acquire  the  bachelor's  degree,  or  the  dignity  of  master 
or  doctor.  Our  teacher  Bartholomew  for  his  part  held  to  the  ideas 
of  the  ancients;  he  despised  every  modern  usage,  and  valued  an 
earnest  career  of  study  more  than  empty  splendor.  A  cultured 
spirit  was  to  him  more  than  a  brow  bedecked.  What  value  has 
the  red  beretta,  when  within  the  spirit  is  shrouded  in  the  darkness 
of  ignorance  ?  In  any  case  knowledge  without  the  title  is  more  to 
be  valued  than  the  mere  title,  it:  which  so  many  rejoice,  without 
the  knowledge.  But  of  this  I  have  more  to  say  elsewhere. 

When,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  I  came  to  this  highly  culti- 
7 


98  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

vated  philosopher  in  the  third  class,  I  made  up  ray  mind  to  remain 
until  Easter,  when  I  would  go  home  and  thence,  with  my  par- 
rents'  permission,  back  to  Johannesberg  in  the  Rheingau,  whence 
I  had  gone  forth,  at  my  mother's  urgent  request,  and  upon  the 
encouragement  of  the  brethren,  to  my  studies.  I  wished  to  see 
whether  I  might  assume  the  higher  garb  of  our  order,  instead  of 
that  humbler  garment,  which  I  had  put  aside,  and  be  received 
into  the  circle  of  the  fathers.  Scarcely  had  I  been  six  weeks  in  the 
class,  however,  when  it  happened  that  the  worthy  father  steward 
of  the  island  of  Niederwerth  near  Coblenz  came  to  Deventer. 
Besides  the  other  business  with  which  he  was  commissioned,  he  had 
been  requested  by  our  distinguished  lord,  the  Abbot  of  Laach, 
to  bring  with  him  several  scholars,  who  were  willing  to  serve  the 
L,ord  in  that  cloister,  of  which  he  had  been  already  ten  years  the 
head,  under  his  secure  guidance,  in  the  monkish  garb,  according 
to  the  rule.  When  he  had  presented  his  letters,  addressed  to  the 
rector,  he  also  expressed  his  solicitude  concerning  this  matter  in 
the  house  of  the  Brethren.  Moreover  in  other  towns  of  this 
region,  where  his  business  took  him,  he  made  careful  inquiries  in 
schools,  bursaries  and  brotherhood  houses,  as  well  as  with  private 
citizens  ;  seeking  young  clerks,  so-called,  endowed  with  a  suffi- 
cient knowledge  of  the  sciences,  and  disposed  to  leave  their 
further  stud}'  for  the  sake  of  God's  service,  in  order  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  life  of  the  cloister  and  to  the  investigation  of 
holy  writ.  Something  like  three  weeks  elapsed,  and  as  yet  he 
had  found  no  one  who  wished  to  accept  his  offer.  Returning 
to  Deventer,  he  considered  it  advisable  to  seek  the  cooperation  of 
the  rector,  Master  Ostendorp,  who,  as  an  eloquent  and  learned 
man,  had  succeeded  the  aforesaid  Alexander  in  the  government 
of  the  school.  Master  Ostendorp  came  at  once  to  the  third  and 
fourth  classes,  and  sought  with  eloquent  words,  such  as  stood  to 
his  command,  to  awaken  enthusiasm  among  the  scholars  for  the 
monastic  life.  First  he  spoke  in  praise  of  the  Benedictines,  then 
he  spoke  in  terms  of  highest  approbation  of  the  abbey  of  Laach, 
as  well  as  of  the  merit  of  its  abbot.  But  all  effort  seemed  in  vain, 
so  far  as  the  scholars  were  concerned,  for  the  lectures  had  already 
begun,  and  the  auditors  were  inscribed  with  their  new  instructors. 
In  many  cases  the  lessons  of  the  new  classes  had  been  begun,  and 
the  honoraria  already  discharged  to  the  new  instructors  for  the 
semester,  and  it  was  thought  shameful  and  unbecoming  to  demand 


THOMAS   PLATTER.  99 

these  back  from  the  rector  and  from  the  professors.  Moreover, 
each  one  had  already  made  his  provision  for  food  and  lodging, 
and  did  not  care  to  let  these  things  go.  Furthermore,  it  was  an 
unsuitable  time  for  traveling  ;  a  very  great  cold  prevailed,  which 
frightened  everyone  from  the  project. 

{Butzbach  however,  after  much  deliberation,  accepted  the  offer  and 
made  the  tedious  winter  journey  up  the  Rhine  to  Laach,  of  which 
abbey  he  eventually  ^became  the  head.) 

THOMAS  PL  A  TTERt 

Thomas  Platter,  1499-1582,  affords  another  example  of  the  strong  general 
impulse  toward  intellectual  advancement  which  characterized  the  eve  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation  in  Germany.  Born  in  Switzerland,  in  the  canton  of 
Wallis,  Platter  obtained  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at  Schlettstadt,  iu 
the  upper  Rhine  country.  Successively  rope-maker,  proof-reader,  publisher 
and  finally  chosen  rector  of  the  city  school  of  Zurich,  Platter,  like  Butzbach, 
ever  displayed  an  ardor  in  the  pursuit  of  learning,  which  no  obstacles  nor 
temporary  interruptions  of  his  course  of  study  were  able  to  extinguish. 
Led  away  in  childhood  upon  a  course  of  mendicancy  and  thievery,  he  came 
unscathed  through  these  adverse  experiences,  retaining  only  an  inflexible 
desire  for  that  culture  of  which  his  wanderings  had  afforded  so  meagre  a 
foretaste.  A  follower  of  the  Zurich  reformer,  Platter  took  an  active  part  in 
the  struggles  of  the  Zwinglian  party,  became  one  of  the  leaders  in  Swiss 
Protestant  life,  and  died  full  of  years  and  honors. 

THE  BACCHANTENSCHUTZ. 

When  they  would  no  longer  let  me  herd  the  goats  I  went  to  a 
farmer  who  had  married  one  of  my  cousins,  a  miserly  and  ill- 
tempered  man.  I  had  to  herd  his  cows,  for  in  most  places  in 
Wallis  there  were  no  common  cow-herds ;  and  whoever  had  no 
mountain  pasture,  whither  he  might  conduct  his  cattle  in  sum- 
mer, kept  a  herder  for  them,  who  pastured  them  on  his  em- 
ployer's property.  After  I  had  been  there  for  a  while  my  cousin 
Fransy  came,  and  wished  to  take  me  to  my  cousin,  Master  Antoni 
Platter,  in  order  that  I  might  learn  my  letters,  as  they  say,  when 
they  put  anyone  in  school.  This  cousin  Antoni  was  no  longer 
stationed  at  Grenchen,  but  at  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas,  in  the  vil- 
lage they  call  Gassen.  When  the  farmer,  who  was  called  Antscho 
(that  is  Antoni)  an  der  Habzucht,  heard  my  cousin's  intention,  he 
was  much  dissatisfied.  He  said  I  would  learn  nothing  ;  and  put- 
Thomas  und  Felix  Platter,  bearbeitet  von  H.  Boos.  Leipzig,  1878. 


100  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE   GERMAN  RENAISSANCE. 

ting  the  index  finger  of  his  right  hand  into  the  palm  of  his  left, 
he  added:  "He  will  no  more  learn  than  I  can  poke  my  finger 
through  rny  palm."  I  saw  and  heard  this.  Then  my  cousin 
replied  :  ' '  But  who  can  say  ?  God  has  not  denied  him  gifts.  He 
might  become  an  excellent  priest."  So  she  took  me  to  the 
-master.  I  was,  I  think,  about  nine  or  nine  and  a  half  years  old. 
At  first  it  was  very  unpleasant  for  me,  because  the  master  was  a 
high-tempered  man,  and  I  an  awkward  peasant  lad.  He  beat  me 
savagely,  seized  me  often  by  the  ears  and  drew  me  from  the 
hearth,  so  that  I  shrieked  like  a  goat  with  the  knife  at  his  throat, 
and  the  neighbors  often  cried  out  against  him,  that  he  would 
murder  me. 

I .  did  not  stay  long  with  him.  About  this  time  there  came 
along  another  cousin,  who  had  been  away  to  school  in  Ulm  and 
Munich  in  Bavaria.  He  was  a  Summermatter,  son  of  my  old 
grandfather's  son.  This  student  was  named  Paulus  Summer- 
matter.  When  my  relatives  spoke  to  him  of  me,  he  promised  to 
take  me  with  him  and  put  me  to  school  in  Germany.  As  I 
learned  of  this  I  fell  upon  my  knees  and  prayed  to  God  the  al- 
mighty, that  he  would  deliver  me  from  the  parson,  who  had  taught 
me  just  nothing  at  all,  but  had  beat  me  sore  ;  for  all  I  had 
learned  was  to  sing  the  Salve  for  eggs,  along  with  other  pupils, 
who  were  also  at  the  parson's,  in  the  village.  One  time  we 
thought  we  would  perform  a  mass  ;  so  the  other  youngsters  sent 
me  into  the  church  for  a  candle,  which  I  stuck  all  lighted  into  my 
sleeve,  and  burned  me,  so  that  I  bear  the  mark  of  it  to  this  day. 

When  the  time  came  for  Paulus  to  set  out  again  upon  his 
wanderings,  I  was  to  join  him  at  Stalden.  Near  Stalden  is  a 
house  called  "  The  Miihlbach."  There  dwelt  a  man,  called  Simon 
zu  der  Summermatter,  my  mother's  brother,  who  was  supposed  to 
be  my  guardian.  He  gave  me  a  golden  florin,  wrhich  I  carried  in 
my  hand  all  the  way  to  Stalden,  and  often  on  the  way  I  looked  to 
see  if  I  still  had  it ;  and  there  I  gave  it  over  to  Paulus,  and  thus 
we  went  forth  from  home. 

I  had  to  beg  now  for  mj'self  and  also  to  provide  for  my  bacchant, 
Paulus  ;  and  an  account  of  my  simpleness  and  rustic  speech  people 
gave  me  freely.  When  at  evening  we  crossed  the  Grimsel  mountain 
and  came  to  an  inn,  I  saw  there  for  the  first  time  an  earthenware 
stove.  The  moon  was  shining  on  the  tiles  of  the  stove  and  I 
thought  it  was  a  great  calf,  for  I  saw  only  the  two  tiles,  and  these 


THOMAS   PLATTER.  IOI 

I  took  for  its  eyes.  Next  morning  I  saw  some  geese,  which  I  had 
never  seen  before,  and  when  they  hissed  at  me  I  thought  it  was 
the  devil,  and  that  he  would  eat  me  up  ;  and  I  fled  screaming. 
At  Lucerne  I  saw  tiled  roofs  for  the  first  time,  and  I  marvelled  at 
the  red  roofs.  We  came  thence  to  Zurich,  where  Paulus  waited  for 
certain  companions,  who  were  to  journey  with  us  toward  Meissen. 
In  the  meantime  I  went  begging  and  completely  provided  Paulus' 
support,  for  whenever  I  entered  an  inn  the  people  were  pleased  to 
hear  me  speak  the  dialect  of  \Vallis  and  willingly  gave  to  me.  At 
that  time  there  was  a  certain  man  in  Zurich,  who  came  from 
Wallis  stock,  an  eccentric  man,  Karle  by  name,  who  was  generally 
thought  to  be  an  exorcist ;  for  he  knew  at  all  times  what  was  go- 
ing on  here  and  there.  He  was  well  known  to  the  Cardinal.  This 
Karle  came  to  me  (for  we  had  taken  lodgings  at  a  certain  house), 
and  said  that  if  I  would  let  him  give  me  a  certain  number  of  stripes 
on  my  bare  back,  he  would  give  me  a  Zurich  piece  of  six.  I 
allowed  mj-self  to  be  persuaded,  and  he  seized  me  fast,  laid  me 
across  a  chair  and  lashed  me  well.  When  I  was  done  smarting  he 
begged  of  me  I  should  lend  him  the  money  back  again  ;  he 
wished  to  sup  with  a  lady,  aud  was  in  need  of  a  piece  of  six  to 
pay  the  bill.  I  gave  him  the  money,  and  never  saw  it  again. 

After  we  had  waited  from  eight  to  nine  weeks  for  our  com- 
panions, we  set  out  for  Meissen.  For  me  it  was  a  long  journey, 
for  I  was  not  accustomed  to  go  so  far,  and  moreover  I  had  to  look 
out  for  our  subsistence  on  the  way.  We  set  out  then,  eight  or 
nine  of  us  together,  three  little  schiitzen,  the  rest  big  baahavfcn, 
as  they  were  called,  among  whom  I  was  the  smallest  and  the 
youngest  schiitze  of  all.  When  I  did  not  travel  briskly  enough, 
my  cousin  Paulus,  who  walked  behind,  pricked  up  my  paces  with 
a  switch  or  a  stick,  laid  upon  my  bare  legs ;  for  I  had  no  hose  and 
my  shoes  were  worn  out. 

I  can  recollect  no  longer  all  that  happened  to  us  on  the  way  ; 
but  some  things  I  remember.  While  all  sorts  of  things  were 
being  discussed  as  we  marched  along,  the  bacchanten  remarked 
to  each  other  that  it  was  the  custom  in  Meissen  and  Silesia  to 
permit  scholars  to  steal  geese  and  ducks  and  other  things  to  eat, 
and  that  nothing  would  be  done  to  them,  unless  they  allowed 
themselves  to  be  taken  by  the  one  to  whom  the  property  belonged. 
One  day,  not  far  from  a  village  we  saw  a  great  flock  of  geese,  un- 
accompanied by  the  goose-herd  (for  each  village  has  its  especial 


102  SOURCE-BOOK    OF  THE    GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

goose-herd),  who  was  quite  a  distance  away  in  company  with  the 
cow-herd.  Thereupon  I  asked  of  my  companions,  the  schiltzen  : 
"When  shall  we  be  in  Meissen,  where  I  may  kill  geese?  "  They 
said,  "We  are  there  now."  Then  I  took  a  stone,  threw  at  a  goose 
and  hit  it  on  the  leg.  The  other  geese  flew  away;  the  lame  one, 
however,  could  not  follow.  Then  I  took  another  stone  and  hit  it 
on  the  head,  so  that  it  fell ;  for  I  had  learned  the  art  of  throwing 
stones  while  I  was  herding  goats,  so  that  no  herder  of  my  age 
could  surpass  me  ;  and  I  could  blow  the  herder's  horn  and  leap 
with  poles,  for  I  had  exercised  these  arts  among  my  fellow  herders. 
Then  I  ran  up  to  the  goose,  siezed  it  by  the  neck,  stuck  it  under 
my  coat  and  went  on  through  the  village.  But  the  goose-herd 
came  running  after  me  and  cried:  "The  boy  has  stolen  one  of 
my  geese  !  "  I  and  my  fellow  schutzen  with  me  took  to  our  heels, 
and  the  goose's  feet  were  sticking  out  from  under  my  jacket.  The 
peasants  came  on  with  spears,  which  they  knew  how  to  throw, 
and  followed  close  upon  us.  When  I  saw  that  I  could  not  escape 
with  the  goose,  I  let  it  drop.  Beyond  the  village  I  sprang  aside 
from  the  road  into  the  bushes,  but  two  of  my  companions,  who 
kept  to  the  road,  were  overhauled  by  the  peasants.  They  fell 
upon  their  knees  and  begged  for  mercy,  saying  they  had  done 
them  no  harm  ;  and  when  the  peasants  saw  that  none  of  them 
had  let  the  goose  drop,  they  went  back  into  the  village,  taking  the 
goose  with  them.  When  I  saw,  however,  how  they  pursued  my 
companions,  I  was  in  deep  distress.  I  said  to  myself:  "Good 
heavens,  I  surely  think  I  have  not  said  my  prayers  to-day  ! ' '  For 
I  had  been  taught  to  say  my  prayers  every  morning.  When  the 
peasants  returned  to  the  village  they  found  our  bacchanten  at  the 
inn  ;  for  they  had  gone  on  ahead,  and  we  were  following.  The 
peasants  were  of  the  opinion  that  they  should  pay  for  the  goose  ; 
it  was  a  matter  of  two  pence.  I  do  not  know  whether  they  paid 
or  not,  but  when  they  came  back  to  us,  they  laughed  and  asked  us 
how  we  had  fared.  I  tried  to  excuse  myself  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  the  custom  of  the  country  ;  but  they  said,  the  time  for  that 
had  not  yet  come. 

On  another  occasion  a  murderer  came  upon  us  in  a  wood,  eleven 
miles  this  side  of  Nuremberg,  when  we  happened  to  be  all  to- 
gether. He  sought  to  trifle  with  our  bacchanten,  in  order  to  detain 
us  until  his  companions  came  together.  We  had  with  us  at  that 
time  an  honest  fellow,  by  name  Antoni  Schallbetter,  from  Visperze- 


THOMAS   PLATTER.  103 

henden  in  Wallis,  who  feared  no  four  or  five,  as  he  had  often 
shown  in  Nuremberg  and  Munich,  and  in  many  other  places.  He 
threatened  the  murderer,  ordering  him  to  get  out  of  the  way  ;  and 
he  did  so.  It  was  so  late,  however,  that  we  could  only  reach  the 
nearest  village.  There  were  two  inns,  but  few  houses  beside. 
When  we  entered  one  of  the  inns,  the  murderer  was  there  before 
us,  and  still  others,  without  doubt  his  companions.  We  would 
not  stay  there,  and  went  to  the  other  inn,  but  they  came  thither 
also.  At  supper  time  the  people  of  the  house  were  so  busy  that 
they  would  give  us  little  fellows  nothing  to  eat,  for  we  never  sat 
at  table  with  our  bacchanten.  Nor  would  they  give  us  any  bed, 
but  we  must  lie  in  the  stables.  When,  however,  they  were  con- 
ducting the  big  fellows  to  bed,  Antoni  said  to  the  host :  "  Host,  it 
seems  to  me  you  have  rather  unusual  guests,  and  that  you  your- 
self are  not  much  better.  I  tell  you,  landlord,  you  had  better  put 
us  where  we  shall  be  safe,  or  we  will  kick  up  such  a  row  for  you,  that 
your  house  will  not  be  big  enough  to  hold  it."  For  the  rascals 
made  every  effort  to  engage  our  fellows  in  a  game  of  chess,  a  thing 
which  I  had  never  heard  of  before.  Then  they  were  shown  to  bed, 
and  I,  with  the  other  little  fellows,  were  sent  to  lie  supperless  in  the 
stables.  There  came  in  the  night  certain  ones,  the  host  himself  with 
them  very  likely,  to  the  chamber  door,  and  sought  to  open  it. 
Now  Antoni  had  set  a  screw  against  the  lock  upon  the  inner  side 
and  rolled  the  bed  against  the  door  and  made  a  light ;  for  he  al- 
ways carried  candles  and  flint  and  steel  with  him  ;  and  quickly  he 
wakened  his  companions.  When  the  rascals  heard  this,  they  went 
away.  Next  morning  we  found  neither  host  nor  servant.  This  is 
the  story  they  told  to  us  boys.  We  were  all  rejoiced  that  nothing 
had  happened  to  us  in  the  stable.  After  we  had  gone  a  good  mile, 
we  met  with  people,  who,  when  they  heard  where  we  had  passed 
the  night,  expressed  their  surprise  that  we  had  not  all  been 
murdered,  for  the  entire  village  has  the  reputation  of  being  a 
murderers'  den. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  this  side  of  Naumburg  our  big  fellows 
remained  behind  in  a  village  ;  for  when  they  wished  to  feast, 
they  sent  us  on  ahead.  There  were  five  of  us.  Then  rode  eight 
men  out  of  the  open  country  upon  us  with  cross  bows  spanned, 
and  demanded  money,  and  turned  their  bolts  upon  us  ;  for  as  yet 
no  one  bore  firearms  on  horseback.  Then  one  of  them  said  : 
"  Give  us  money  !"  One  of  us,  who  was  pretty  well  grown,  re- 


104  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE  GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

plied:  "  We  have  no  money  ;  we  are  poor  scholars."  A  second 
time  he  cried  :  "Give  us  money!"  But  our  companion  said: 
"  We  have  no  monej'-,  and  will  give  you  no  money,  nor  do  we  owe 
you  any."  Then  the  horseman  drew  his  sword,  and  aimed  a  blow 
at  his  head,  so  that  he  severed  the  cord  that  held  his  pack.  Our 
comrade  was  called  Johannes  von  Schalen,  and  was  from  the  vil- 
lage of  Visp.  Then  they  rode  away  into  a  wood,  but  we  set  off  for 
Naumburg.  Soon  our  bacchanien  came  along  ;  they  had  not  seen 
the  rascals.  We  have  often  at  other  times  been  in  danger  from 
horsemen  and  murderers,  both  in  the  forest  of  Thuringia,  in 
Franconia  and  in  Poland. 

At  Naumburg  we  remained  several  weeks.  We  schiiizen  went 
into  the  city.  Some,  who  could  sing,  went  singing,  but  I  went 
begging.  We  attended  no  school,  and  the  others  would  not 
suffer  this,  but  threatened  to  force  us  to  go  to  school.  The 
school-master  also  ordered  our  bacchanten  to  go  to  school,  or  they 
would  be  arrested.  Antoni  sent  him  word  to  come  ahead  ;  and 
since  there  were  several  Swiss  there,  they  let  us  know  what  day 
they  were  coming,  so  that  we  should  not  be  taken  unawares. 

Then  we  little  schiitzen  carried  stones  up  to  the  roof,  while 
Antoni  and  the  others  held  the  doors.  When  the  school-master 
came  with  his  whole  following  of  schutzen  and  bacchanten.  we 
youngsters  threw  stones  upon  them,  so  that  the)'  gave  way. 
Thereupon  we  learned  that  we  had  been  complained  of  before  the 
city  authorities.  We  had  a  neighbor,  who  was  about  to  give  his 
daughter  a  husband.  He  had  a  pen  full  of  fat  geese,  of  which 
we  took  three  by  night  and  retired  to  another  quarter  of  the  town. 
It  was  a  suburb,  but  without  walls,  as  indeed  was  the  place 
where  we  had  formerly  been.  There  the  Swiss  joined  us,  and 
they  feasted  together.  Then  our  fellows  went  to  Halle  in  Saxon}', 
and  we  entered  the  school  at  St.  Ulrich's. 

There,  however,  our  bacchanten  used  us  so  shamefully  that  sev- 
eral of  us  conspired  with  my  cousin  Paulus,  with  the  intention  of 
running  away  from  the  bacchanten.  In  this  manner  we  came  to 
Dresden;  but  there  were  no  good  schools  there,  and  our  sleeping- 
rooms  were  so  full  of  vermin,  that  at  night  we  could  hear  them 
crawling  under  us  in  the  straw. 

Again  we  got  under  way  and  came  to  Breslau.  On  the  way  we 
suffered  much  from  hunger,  so  that  often  we  had  nothing  to  eat 
but  raw  onions  with  salt,  often  for  several  days  only  roasted 


THOMAS   PLATTER.  105 

acorns,  wild  apples  and  pears.  Many  a  night  we  lay  under  the 
open  sky,  when  no  one  would  suffer  us  to  enter  his  house,  how- 
ever politely  we  begged  for  lodging  ;  sometimes  they  set  the  dogs 
upon  us.  In  Breslau,  however,  everything  was  abundant;  so 
cheap,  indeed,  that  the  poor  scholars  overate  and  often  fell  into 
serious  illness.  At  first  we  went  to  the  school  in  the  cathedral  of 
the  Holy  Cross.  When,  however,  we  learned  that  there  were 
some  Swiss  in  the  upper  parish  of  St.  Elizabeth,  we  went  thither. 
There  were  two  from  Bremgarten,  two  from  Mellingen  and  others, 
and  many  Swabians  as  well  ;  there  was  no  distinction  made 
between  Swabians  and  Swiss.  We  addressed  each  other  as  com- 
patriots and  protected  each  other. 

The  city  of  Breslau  has  seven  parishes,  and  each  parish  has  a 
separate  school.  No  scholar  is  permitted  to  sing  in  another  parish 
than  his  own,  or  they  cry,  Ad  idem  !  ad  idem  !  and  the  schiitzen 
rush  together  and  fight  fiercel)'.  There  are  said  to  have  been  sev- 
eral thousand  bacchanten  and  schiitzen  in  the  city  at  one  time,  all 
of  whom  were  supported  with  alms  ;  some  had  been  there  from 
twenty  to  thirty  years  and  even  longer,  and  they  had  their 
schiilzen,  who  begged  for  them.  I  have  often  of  an  evening 
carried  five  or  six  loads  to  my  bacchanfen  at  the  school  where 
they  dwelt.  People  gave  very  willingly  to  me,  because  I  was 
small  and  a  Swiss  ;  for  the}'  were  very  fond  of  the  Swiss.  There 
was  great  sympathy  for  the  Swiss,  because  at  this  time  they  had 
fared  ill  in  the  battle  of  Milan, '  wherefore  it  was  the  custom  to 
say,  "The  Swiss  have  lost  their  good  luck;"  for  previously  it 
was  the  belief  that  they  were  well  nigh  insuperable. 

One  day  at  the  market-place  I  met  two  gentlemen  or  squires, 
and  later  on  I  learned  that  one  of  these  was  named  Berjzenauer 
and  the  other  Fugger.  As  the)'  were  walking  by,  I  begged  for 
alms,  as  was  the  custom  with  the  poor  scholars.  The  Fugger  said 
to  me,  "Whence  come  you,"  and  when  he  heard  that  I  was  Swiss, 
he  spoke  aside  with  Benzenauer  and  then  said  to  me:  "If  you 
are  really  Swiss,  I  will  adopt  you  and  sign  the  papers  before  the 
authorities  here  in  Breslau  ;  but  you  must  bind  yourself  to  remain 
with  me  all  your  life  long,  and  to  attend  me  wherever  I  may  be." 
I  replied  :  "I  have  been  entrusted  to  the  care  of  a  certain  person 
from  home,  and  I  will  speak  to  him  about  it."  When,  however, 

'Marignano,  September,  1515. 


106  SOURCE-BOOK  OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

I  mentioned  the  matter  to  my  cousin  Paulus,  he  said  ;  "I  have 
brought  you  from  home  and  it  is  my  intention  to  turn  you  over 
again  to  your  own  people  ;  what  they  tell  you  to  do,  that  you  can 
do."  So  I  declined  the  Fugger's  offer,  but  as  often  as  I  went  to 
his  house  his  people  did  not  permit  me  to  come  away  empty- 
handed. 

There  I  remained  a  long  time:  One  winter  I  was  sick  three 
times,  so  that  I  had  to  be  taken  to  the  hospital.  The  scholars 
have  their  special  hospital  and  their  own  physician.  The  city 
gives  sixteen  heller  a  week  for  each  scholar,  and  this  answers  very 
nicely.  They  have  good  care  and  good  beds  too,  but  there  are  so 
many  insects  that  I  preferred  to  lie  in  the  common  room,  or,  as 
many  did,  on  the  stove.  The  scholars  and  bacchanten,  indeed  the 
ordinary  men,  in  man)'  cases  are  so  full  of  vermin  that  it  is  beyond 
belief.  Many  a  time,  especially  in  summer,  I  went  out  to  the 
Oder,  which  flows  by  the  city,  washed  my  shirt  and  hung  it  up 
on  a  bush  to  dry;  meanwhile  I  picked  the  vermin  from  my  coat, 
dug  a  hole  in  the  ground,  threw  a  handful  of  lice  into  it,  covered 
them  up  with  earth  and  set  a  cross  upon  the  place.  In  the  winter 
the  schiitzen  lay  upon  the  stove  in  the  school;  the  bacchanten,  how- 
ever, slept  in  their  cells,  of  which  there  were  several  hundred  at 
St.  Elizabeth  ;  in  summer,  however,  when  the  weather  was  warm, 
we  slept  in  the  churchyard,  collecting  the  grass,  which  in  summer 
the}'  spread  in  front  of  the  houses  in  the  fine  streets  on  Sunday. 
This  we  carried  to  the  churchyard,  heaped  it  together  in  a  corner, 
and  there  we  lay  like  pigs  in  straw;  but  when  it  rained,  we  ran 
into  the  school,  and  during  thunder  showers  we  sang  responses 
and  other  offices  with  the  chanter  almost  the  whole  night  through. 
Once  in  a  while  after  supper  in  summer  we  went  begging  in  the 
beer-houses.  The  drunken  Polacks  gave  us  so  much  beer  that  I 
often  unwittingly  became  drunk,  so  that  I  could  not  get  back  to 
the  school,  although  I  was  only  a  stone's  throw  away.  On  the 
whole  there  was  enough  to  eat  in  Breslau,  but  not  much  study- 
ing. 

In  the  school  at  St.  Elizabeth  nine  bachelors  lectured  at  the 
same  time  in  one  room;  of  Greek  there  was  no  trace  anywhere  in 
that  part  of  the  country;  moreover,  no  one  had  any  printed 
books,  except  the  teacher,  who  had  a  printed  Terence.  What- 
ever was  presented  had  to  be  dictated  in  the  first  place,  then 
analyzed,  then  construed,  and  at  length  expounded;  so  that  the 
bacchanten  had  loads  of  trash  to  carry  when  they  went  home. 


THOMAS   PLATTER.  107 

Thence  eight  of  us  went  on  to  Dresden.  We  suffered  greatly 
from  hunger  on  the  way.  One  day  we  determined  to  divide  our 
forces;  certain  ones  should  go  after  geese,  others  after  turnips  and 
onions,  one  should  bring  a  pot,  and  we  little  ones  were  to  go  to 
the  town  of  Neumarkt,  which  lay  not  far  away  upon  our  road, 
and  procure  bread  and  salt.  At  evening  we  were  to  come  to- 
gether outside  the  town,  and  cook  whatever  we  had  collected. 
About  a  rifle-shot  distance  from  the  town  was  a  spring,  where  we 
intended  to  spend  the  night.  When  the  people  in  the  town  saw  the 
fire,  however,  they  came  out,  but  did  not  find  us  there;  we  took  to 
our  heels  behind  a  ridge  of  ground  toward  a  pond  in  the  woods. 
The  big  fellows  piled  up  bushes  and  made  a  hut;  some  of  us 
plucked  the  geese,  of  which  we  had  two,  while  others  prepared 
the  turnips  for  the  pot,  and  put  therein  the  heads  and  feet  and 
entrails  of  the  geese;  still  others  made  two  wooden  spits  and  be- 
gan to  roast  the  geese,  and  as  soon  as  they  were  a  little  reddened 
with  the  heat  we  took  them  from  the  spit  and  ate  them;  and  the 
turnips  as  well.  In  the  night  we  heard  a  noise;  near-by  was  a 
fish-pond;  during  the  da>^  the  water  had  been  drained  off,  and  the 
fish  were  leaping  in  the  mud.  We  gathered  up  the  fish,  as  many 
as  we  could  carry  in  a  shirt  fastened  to  a  staff,  and  went  hence  to 
a  village.  There  we  gave  one  fish  to  a  peasant,  on  condition  that 
he  should  cook  the  others  in  beer  for  us. 

When  finally  we  came  to  Dresden,  the  schoolmaster  and  our 
bacchanten  sent  some  of  us  boys  forth  to  look  about  for  geese. 
We  agreed  that  I  should  throw  at  the  geese,  while  the  others 
were  to  get  them  and  carry  them  away.  After  we  had  found  a 
flock  of  geese,  and  they  had  caught  sight  of  us,  they  flew  away; 
then  I  threw  a  little  club  which  I  had  with  me  up  under  them  as 
they  flew,  and  struck  one  of  them,  so  that  it  fell  to  the  ground. 
But  my  companions  saw  the  gooseherd  and  dared  not  run  for  it, 
although  they  had  considerably  the  start  of  the  herder.  Then 
the  other  geese  flew  down  and  surrounded  the  wounded  goose  and 
gabbled  as  though  they  were  speaking  to  it;  and  it  stood  up 
again  and  went  away  with  the  others.  I  was  vexed  with  my 
comrades,  that  they  had  not  carried  out  their  promises;  but  we 
did  better  after  that,  for  we  brought  home  two  geese.  These  the 
bacchanten  ate  with  the  schoolmaster  at  a  farewell  feast.  Theiice 
we  set  out  for  Nuremberg  and  further  on  to  Munich. 

On  the  way,  not  far  from  Dresden,  it  happened  that  I  went  beg- 


IO8  SOURCE-BOOK   OF   THE    GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

ging  into  a  village  and  came  up  to  a  peasant's  house.  The  peas- 
ant asked  me  who  I  was  ;  and  when  he  heard  that  I  was  a  Swiss, 
he  asked  if  I  had  not  comrades  who  were  also  Swiss.  I  said  : 
"My  comrades  are  waiting  for  me  outside  the  village. "  Then  he 
answered  :  "  Tell  them  to  come!  "  He  prepared  a  good  meal  for 
us  and  gave  us  plenty  of  beer.  When  wre  were  quite  comfortable 
and  the  peasant  with  us,  he  said  to  his  mother,  who  lay  on  the  bed 
in  the  common  room  :  "  Mother,  I  have  heard  you  say,  you  wanted 
very  much  to  see  a  Swiss  before  you  died  ;  now  here  you  see  sev- 
eral of  them  ;  for  I  have  invited  them  on  your  account."  Then  the 
mother  raised  herself,  thanked  her  son  for  the  guests  and  said  :  "  I 
have  heard  so  many  good  things  said  about  the  Swiss,  that  I  was 
very  anxious  to  see  one.  It  seems  to  me  I  shall  now  die  that 
much  easier ;  therefore  make  merry!"  and  she  lay  down  again. 
We  thanked  the  peasant  and  departed. 

As  we  came  near  Munich  it  was  too  late  to  see  the  city,  so  we 
had  to  spend  the  night  in  the  lazaretto.  When  on  the  following 
morning  we  came  to  the  city  gate,  they  would  not  admit  us  ;  we 
had,  however,  an  acquaintance  in  the  city,  whom  we  gave  as  refer- 
ence. My  cousin  Paulus,  who  had  been  in  Munich  before,  was 
permitted  to  look  this  man  up,  with  whom  he  had  lodged  on  the 
occasion  of  his  former  visit.  He  came  and  went  security  for  us, 
and  then  they  let  us  in.  Paulus  and  I  went  to  the  house  of  a 
soap-boiler,  named  Hans  Schrall,  who  had  taken  his  master's 
degree  at  Vienna,  but  was  an  enemy  to  priestcraft.  He  had  married 
a  beautiful  girl,  with  whom  he  came,  many  years  later,  to  Basel, 
where  he  worked  at  his  trade  ;  and  many  people  here  know  him. 
I  helped  this  master  boil  soap  more  than  I  w^ent  to  school ;  went 
with  him  to  the  villages,  buying  ashes.  Paulus,  however,  went 
to  school  in  the  parish  of  Our  Lady  and  so  did  I,  but  rarely, 
merely  because  I  had  to  sing  for  bread  through  the  streets  and 
support  my  bacckant,  Paulus.  The  woman  of  the  house  was  very 
fond  of  me  ;  she  had  an  old  blind  black  dog,  and  it  was  my  task 
to  feed  him,  make  his  bed  and  lead  him  into  the  court.  She  al- 
ways said  :  "  Tommy,  take  the  best  care  of  my  doggy  ;  you  won't 
be  any  the  worse  for  it."  When  we  had  been  there  a  time,  Paulus 
began  to  get  too  friendly  with  the  maid.  This  the  master  would 
not  permit.  Then  Paulus  determined  that  we  should  go  home, 
for  we  had  not  been  at  home  in  five  years.  So  homeward  we 
turned  toward  Wallis.  My  friends  there  could  scarcely  understand 


THOMAS   PLATTER.  109 

me  ;  they  said  :  ' '  Our  Tommy  speaks  so  strangely  that  scarcely 
anybody  can  understand  him  ;  "  for  I  was  young  then,  and  had 
learned  a  little  of  the  speech  of  every  place  where  I  had  stopped  a 
while.  In  the  meanwhile  my  mother  had  taken  another  husband, 
for  Heinzmann  am  Grund  was  dead  ;  at  the  end  of  her  period  of 
mourning  she  had  married  Thomas  an  Garstern.  On  this  account 
I  could  not  be  with  her  much,  but  spent  most  of  my  time  with  my 
cousins,  especially  with  my  cousin  Simon  Summermatter  and  my 
cousin  Fransy. 

A  little  later  we  set  out  again  and  came  to  Ulm.  Paulus  took 
still  another  boy  with  him,  named  Hildebrand  Kalbermatter,  a 
parson's  son  ;  he  too  was  very  young.  They  gave  him  some 
cloth,  such  as  was  made  in  the  country,  enough  for  a  coat.  When 
we  came  to  Ulm,  Paulus  had  me  go  about  with  the  cloth  and 
solicit  the  money  for  making  it  up.  In  this  way  I  got  a  good 
deal  of  money,  for  I  was  an  expert  at  flattery  and  begging,  and 
for  this  reason  the  bacchanten  had  used  me  for  this  purpose  from 
the  beginning,  and  would  not  let  me  go  to  school,  nor  even  learn 
to  read.  There  at  Ulm  I  seldom  went  to  school,  and  at  first, 
when  I  ought  to  have  been  going,  I  went  about  with  the  cloth, 
and  suffered  greatly  from  hunger  ;  for  everything  that  I  obtained 
I  brought  home  to  the  bacchanten.  I  dared  not  eat  a  morsel,  for 
I  feared  a  beating.  Paulus  had  associated  with  him  another 
bacchant,  Achatius  by  name,  a  Mainzer  by  birth.  My  comrade 
and  I  had  to  support  them  with  begging,  but  Hildebrand  ate 
almost  everything.  Therefore  they  used  to  follow  him  through 
the  streets,  in  order  to  catch  him  eating,  or  they  made  him  rinse 
his  mouth  with  water  and  spit  it  out  into  a  dish,  so  that  they  could 
see  if  he  had  eaten  anything.  Then  they  threw  him  upon  a  bed, 
placed  a  pillow  upon  his  head,  so  that  he  could  not  cry  out,  and 
they  beat  him,  these  two  bacchanten,  until  they  could  beat  him  no 
longer.  Wherefore  I  was  afraid  and  brought  everything  home. 
Often  they  had  so  much  bread  that  it  moulded  ;  then  they  cut  off 
the  mouldy  part  and  gave  it  to  us  to  eat.  I  have  often  suffered 
severely  from  hunger,  and  from  cold  as  well,  for  I  had  to  go 
about  in  the  darkness  until  midnight  and  sing  for  bread. 

I  must  not  forget  to  relate  that  there  was  a  kind  widow  living 
at  Ulm,  who  had  two  unmarried  daughters  and  one  son,  Paulus 
Reling,  who  was  also  unmarried.  Often  in  winter  the  widow 
wrapped  my  feet  in  a  warm  piece  of  fur,  which  she  put  behind 


IIO  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE   GERMAN   RENAISSANCE. 

the  stove,  so  that  she  could  warm  my  feet  when  I  came.  She 
gave  me  then  a  dish  of  porridge  and  sent  me  home.  I  have  been 
so  hungry  that  I  have  driven  the  dogs  from  bones  and  gnawed  at 
them,  and  I  have  sought  and  eaten  out  of  the  garbage. 

Thence  we  went  again  to  Munich.  There  I  was  obliged  again 
to  beg  for  money  to  make  up  the  cloth,  which,  however,  was  not 
mine.  A  year  later  we  returned  to  Ulm,  with  the  intention  of 
turning  again  toward  home.  I  brought  the  cloth  back  with  me, 
and  begged  again  for  the  price  of  making.  I  distinctly  remember 
that  certain  persons  said  to  me:  "Good  heavens,  is  that  coat 
not  made  yet?  I  guess  you  are  playing  us  a  trick."  So  we 
went  away.  I  know  not  what  became  of  the  cloth,  or  whether 
the  coat  has  been  made  or  not.  We  came  home,  however,  and 
went  again  to  Munich. 

On  the  Sunday  of  our  arrival  the  baahantcn  found  lodgings, 
but  we  three  little  schiitzen  were  not  so  fortunate.  Toward  night 
we  sought  to  go  into  the  enclosure,  that  is  to  say  the  corn-market, 
in  order  to  lie  upon  the  sacks.  Several  women  were  sitting  there 
near  the  salt-house,  and  asked  where  we  were  going.  When 
they  learned  that  we  had  no  lodgings  and  that  we  were  Swiss, 
one  of  them,  a  butcher  woman,  said  to  her  maid  :  "  Set  the  pot 
with  what  soup  and  meat  is  left  over  the  fire.  They  must  stop 
with  me  to-night,  for  I  am  fond  of  the  Swiss.  I  once  served  at  a 
tavern  in  Innsbruck,  when  the  Emperor  Maximilian  was  holding 
his  court  there.  The  Swiss  had  much  to  do  with  him  at  that 
time.  They  were  so  kind  to  me  that  I  shall  be  fond  of  them  so 
long  as  I  live."  She  gave  us  enough  to  eat  and  to  drink,  and 
lodged  us  well.  Next  morning  she  said  to  us  :  "If  one  of  you 
wishes  to  stay  with  me,  I  will  give  him  his  lodgings  and  his  meat 
and  drink."  We  were  all  willing,  and  asked  which  one  she 
wanted  ;  and  as  she  looked  us  over,  I  seemed  to  her  a  little 
livelier  than  the  others.  So  she  took  me,  and  I  had  nothing  to 
do  but  hand  her  her  beer,  bring  hides  and  meat  from  the 
shambles,  and  now  and  then  accompany  her  to  the  field  ;  but 
besides  this  I  had  to  support  my  bacchant.  That  displeased  the 
woman  and  she  said  to  me:  "  Good  heavens,  let  that  bacchant 
go,  and  stick  to  me  !  You  do  not  need  to  beg. ' '  For  a  week  I 
went  neither  to  my  bacchant  nor  to  school.  Then  came  my 
bacchant  and  knocked  at  the  door  of- the  butcher-woman's  house. 
She  said  to  me:  "Your  bacchant  is  there.  Say  that  you  are 


THOMAS  PLATTER.  Ill 

sick  ;"  and  she  let  him  in.  She  said  to  him  :  "You  are  a  pretty 
gentleman,  in  truth  ;  and  you  want  to  see,  do  you,  what  Thomas 
is  doing  ?  Well,  he  has  been  sick,  and  is  so  still."  Then  he  said: 
"  I  am  sorry,  youngster.  When  you  can  go  out  again,  come  to 
me."  Some  time  after  I  went  one  Sunday  to  vespers,  and  after 
vespers  he  said  so  me:  "Here,  you  schtitze,  you  don't  mean  to 
come  to  me  !  I  will  give  you  a  good  drubbing."  I  made  up  my 
mind,  however,  that  he  should  not  beat  me  any  more,  and  I  con- 
cluded to  run  away.  On  Monday  I  said  to  the  butcher- woman: 
"  I  think  I  will  go  to  school  and  then  go  and  wash  my  shirt."  I 
dared  not  say  what  I  had  in  mind,  for  I  feared  that  she  might 
talk  me  out  of  it.  I  set  out  for  Munich  with  heavy  heart,  partly 
because  I  was  running  away  from  my  cousin,  with  whom  I  had 
travelled  so  far,  but  who  was  so  harsh  and  merciless  with  me. 
Then  too,  I  was  sorry  to  leave  the  butcher-woman,  who  had  been 
so  kind  toward  me.  I  crossed  the  river  Isar ;  for  I  feared  if  I 
went  toward  Switzerland,  that  Paulus  would  follow  me.  He  had 
often  threatened  me  and  others,  that  if  any  one  should  run  away 
from  him,  he  would  pursue  him,  and  when  he  caught  him  he 
would  break  every  bone  in  his  body. 

Across  the  Isar  is  a  hill.  There  I  sat  down,  gazed  at  the  city 
and  wept  softly  to  myself,  that  I  had  no  longer  any  one  to  take 
me  up.  My  intention  was  to  go  toward  Salzburg  or  toward  Vienna 
in  Austria.  While  I  sat  there  a  peasant  came  along  with  a  wagon, 
carrying  salt  to  Munich.  He  was  already  drunk,  although  the 
sun  had  only  just  risen.  I  begged  of  him  to  let  me  ride,  and  he 
let  me  go  with  him,  until  he  unhitched  to  feed.  While  this  was 
going  on  I  begged  in  the  village  ;  and  not  far  beyond  the  village 
I  waited  for  him  and,  while  waiting,  fell  asleep.  When  I  awoke, 
I  wept  bitterly,  for  I  thought  the  peasant  had  gone  along,  and  I 
grieved  as  though  I  had  lost  a  father ;  but  soon  he  came  along, 
now  thoroughly  befuddled.  He  told  me  to  mount  again  and  asked 
me  where  I  wanted  to  go.  I  said,  "  To  Salzburg  ;"  and  when 
evening  came  he  left  the  highway  and  said  :  "Jump  down  :  there 
is  the  road  to  Salzburg."  We  had  travelled  eight  miles  during 
the  day. 

I  came  to  a  village,  and  when  I  arose  the  next  morning  such  a 
frost  had  fallen  that  it  was  like  snow,  and  I  had  no  shoes,  only 
tattered  stockings;  no  cap,  only  a  jacket  without  folds.  In  this 
guise  I  went  on  to  Passau,  and  from  there  it  was  rny  intention 


112  SOURCE-BOOK   OF  THE    GERMAN    RENAISSANCE. 

to  go  to  Vienna  by  the  Danube.  When  I  came  to  Passau  they 
would  not  let  me  in.  Then  I  determined  to  go  to  Switzerland,  and 
asked  the  watchman  at  the  city  gate,  which  was  the  nearest  way. 
He  said,  "  By  way  of  Munich  ;  "  but  when  I  replied  ;  "  I  do  not 
wish  to  go  by  the  way  of  Munich.  I  had  rather  make  a  circuit  of 
ten  miles  or  even  further,"  he  pointed  out  the  way  by  Freisingen. 
There  is  a  high  school,  and  there  I  found  Swiss,  who  asked  me 
whence  I  came.  But  only  two  or  three  days  passed  before  Paulus 
came  with  a  halberd.  The  sthutze  said  to  me:  "Your  bacchant 
from  Munich  is  here  looking  for  you."  Upon  this  I  ran  forth  from 
the  city  gate,  as  though  he  were  upon  my  heels,  and  made  for  Ulm. 

I  went  to  my  saddler's  wife,  who  formerly  had  warmed  my  feet 
in  the  rug.  She  took  me  into  her  house,  and  let  me  tend  the  tur- 
nips in  the  field.  This  I  did,  and  went  no  more  to  school.  Some 
weeks  later  a  certain  one,  who  had  been  Paulus'  comrade,  came  to 
me  and  said  :  "  Your  cousin  Paulus  is  here  and  looking  for  you." 
He  had  followed  me  for  eighteen  miles,  because  he  had  indeed 
lost  a  good  thing  in  me.  I  had  supported  him  for  years.  When 
I  heard  this,  although  it  was  night,  I  ran  out  through  the  city 
gate  toward  Constance,  but  grieved  to  myself,  for  it  hurt  me  sore 
that  I  must  leave  my  dear  mistress.  When  I  was  nearly  at  Mors- 
burg  I  ran  across  a  stone-mason  from  Thurgau.  We  met  a  young 
peasant,  and  the  stone-mason  said  to  me  :  "We  must  get  some 
money  out  of  this  peasant."  To  him  he  said:  "Here,  peasant, 
hand  out  your  money,  or  the  devil  fly  away  with  you  !  "  The  peas- 
ant was  frightened,  and  I  was  sore  afraid,  and  wished  I  was  some- 
where else.  The  peasant  began  to  pull  out  his  purse,  but  the 
stone-mason  said  :  "  That's  all !  I  was  just  joking  with  you." 

Thus  I  came  across  the  lake  to  Constance.  As  I  was  crossing 
the  bridge  I  saw  some  Swiss  peasants  in  their  white  jackets,  and, 
O  Lord,  how  glad  was  I  !  I  thought  I  was  in  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven.  I  came  to  Zurich,  and  found  there  some  big  bacchanten 
from  Wallis.  I  offered  to  beg  for  them  on  condition  that  they 
should  teach  me ;  and  they  did  so,  as  the  others  had  done.  At 
that  time  the  Cardinal  von  Sitten  was  in  Zurich,  seeking  to  enroll 
citizens  of  Zurich  to  accompany  him  to  the  Pope's  dominions  ;  but 
it  had  rather  to  do  with  Milan,  as  the  sequel  proved  some  months 
later.  Paulus  sent  his  schiitze,  Hildebrand,  from  Munich,  to  tell 
me  I  should  come  back  to  him  ;  that  he  would  forgive  me.  I  did 
not  care  to  do  so,  and  remained  in  Zurich,  but  not  at  study. 


